


A Letter to Mr. William Snape

by Silverfox



Series: Runaway Dragon [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-10 20:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 140,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15299898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverfox/pseuds/Silverfox
Summary: Eight years have passed since the events of Runaway Dragon. Voldemort has been defeated. Life is going fine, but then a letter disturbs the peace of the Snape family.





	1. Unwelcome News

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer 1: Most of this is fanfic. That means I do not own any of it. I just borrow it to play with for a little while and let people see the pathetic results if they really want to.
> 
> Disclaimer 2: I'm not making any money from it. It's just for fun.
> 
> Disclaimer 3: What isn't borrowed is all made up. None of this is real or most likely at all realistic. Please don't trust any of the information in here. Most likely you know more about whatever I'm writing about than I do.
> 
> Disclaimer 4: Attitudes, views and opinions expressed by the characters or in the story are not necessarily those of the author. Even when writing Science Fiction or Fantasy I do not tend to attempt to create perfect/better worlds in which everybody gets a happy end ... or whatever is best for them. Please accept that some characters will have a bad ending or be unhappy.
> 
> Disclaimer 5: I intend no insult to anyone. If I offend anyone I'm very sorry. Please understand that it was an accident as I tend to be very clumsy in these things.
> 
> Disclaimer 6: Draco and most of the teachers belong to JKR. (As if you didn't all know that.)
> 
> Disclaimer 7: Severus Snape owning a raven belongs to J.L. Matthews. (Go read her story everybody. It's great.)
> 
> Disclaimer 8: The gang name Sharks is borrowed from the musical West Side Story of course. I don't remember where I found the name Rakers, but I know I read it somewhere.
> 
> Disclaimer 9: The idea for Snape having a family comes from Al's fic Time of Trial.
> 
> Disclaimer 10: The Glizzard family and Gringolf Glizzard belong to my friend PegaPony and so do all of Gringolf's songs. Thanks for letting me borrow them!
> 
> Disclaimer 11: My friend Edmund owns himself and his horse Apollo.
> 
> Disclaimer 12: Old Joe and Tess' Joe belong to Zebee.
> 
> Disclaimer 13: The looks of the five Slytherin girls are taken mostly from a drawing by Iremione.
> 
> Disclaimer 14: I first encountered the Ravenslyth-terminology on the Slytherin Rising e-group. I don't remember who invented it, but it's not mine.

Chapter 1: Unwelcome News

 

Minnerva McGonagall had taken over the library. She enjoyed working there when it wasn't full of students who eyed her oddly or approached her with questions. Now in the holidays it was much more comfortable than her office. A charmed quill was flying over a piece of parchment to her left, another to her right, while she was addressing the envelopes by hand.

Sharpe, Mary-Anne was the next name on her list. A Muggle address in Leeds, England.

She cast a look at the quill to her right. Indeed, it had stopped writing and was waiting for her input.

"Miss Sharpe." she informed the quill and it began to write furiously again.

It might be time to check the other quill as well. A quick count confirmed her suspicion. She already had two more first year book lists then required.

A wave of her wand stopped the quill and she erased the text it had memorised. A glance at the time, no, it wasn't likely that she'd get started on the second years' letters today. No use writing the book lists, if she was only going to leave them lying around until tomorrow anyway.

She put the quill away and picked up her unenchanted one again.

To Ms Mary-Anne Sharpe,  
Acorn Street 15...  
The quill had stopped again. Minerva paused and checked the book again. Snape William.

"Mr. Snape." she told the quill and turned to note the name on the students list she'd read out on the first day of term and returned to Ms Sharpe's address.

Wait a minute! Snape? Could it be ... No, she'd taught Professor Snape's little Draco less than a decade ago. The boy was definitely not old enough to have an eleven year old son. A two or three year old, perhaps, but not eleven.

She finished addressing the envelope, folded up the letter and a book list and put them inside.

"Mr. Sorrel." she told the quill, before starting on the next envelope.

To Mr. William Snape

Maybe Severus had a younger brother? No, she'd have taught him then. A cousin? But she didn't remember any cousins of Severus either.

Merlin Park 5/218

Merlin Park?! How did a Merlin Park child get onto Hogwarts' students list?

West Hogsmeade  
Hogsmeade  
Minerva shuddered. Poor child, but this might explain why she didn't know his father. If the man was a Squib, it was no wonder she'd never taught him. And if he was Severus' brother or cousin after all, that would explain how the boy had gotten on the list.

She hadn't expected Severus to allow a relative to have to live in Merlin Park, though.

'He must be as proud as Severus.' she decided. "Determined to make it on his own.'

To Mr. Aterus Sorrel  
Sorrel Manor...

By late afternoon all the first years' letters were finished and Minerva carried the stack into the owlery cursing the many steps under her breath all the way.

The school owls blinked at her tiredly when she entered. It was still a little early for them. The sight of the stack of envelopes quickly woke them up, though and they fluttered closer.

"Whoa, calm down." Minerva ordered. "There'll be a letter for each of you. If not today, then tomorrow. Now, let me see. This one goes to Ireland."

She looked around for a big, young owl. Crossing the sea required a strong flyer in case he didn't find a ship to rest on when he tired.

"You." she decided noticing a big eagle owl. She tied the envelope to his leg. "That's just outside Dublin. Don't get lost. I'll need you back soon."

An old owl hooted at her in disappointment and nipped at her finger. "No, my dear, this one goes far to the south. I'll need a fast owl for this." Minerva declared and picked a young barn owl.

The old owl hooted again and looked miserable. Minerva suddenly felt sorry for her. She glanced at the next letter. London. That was rather far for such an old bird as well. She shouldn't send her out of Scotland. Something in the immediate vicinity would be best.

"I know. I have just the letter for you." she told the owl as she searched through the stack. "Here it is. This one goes to a boy in West Hogsmeade. A bad neighbourhood, so you'll have to be careful, but I'm sure an experienced bird like you can handle it."

"Hoot!" the owl eagerly held out her leg.

She probably hadn't had a chance to deliver a letter since last year. The students usually picked the young, strong owls to send their letters.

Minerva gently stroked her wing before letting her take off. She'd be back in time for the second years' letters so Minerva decided to make sure to have the letter with the closest address already prepared when she came to the owlery.

 

The old owl soared up into the air happily. West Hogsmeade was an easy task, not much of a challenge, but she liked the route. She'd flown it before. In fact she'd even been to that same house before.

The headmaster himself had sent her with letters to the dark haired teacher and once, in her youth, she had delivered a letter to a witch for the dark haired teacher when his raven had been away. She was quite sure that it had been a love letter considering how important it had been to the teacher that nobody knew he'd sent it.

This letter's recipient had the same name as the teacher, the witch and the boy, but it was a different window. Either that boy didn't belong to the teacher or they had moved their nest.

Well, it had been many years. They probably had moved their nest.

Indeed when the owl knocked on the window her magic told her William Snape was behind, it was the witch who opened.

The owl hooted her thanks and a greeting at her and fluttered in. The family was having dinner. The teacher and a dark haired boy were sitting at the table. A third plate of food showed where the witch must have sat before the knock.

A dog sat on the floor next to the boy's chair wagging his tail and hoping for scraps.

The blond boy wasn't around. Maybe he'd gone to stretch his wings, or maybe he had found himself a nest of his own.

The magic said to take the letter to the boy, so she carefully landed beside his plate.

"Hoot!" she stretched her leg out as elegantly as she could manage with her aching old joints.

The boy stared at her wide eyed.

"For me?" he asked incredulously.

"Hoot!" the owl confirmed.

The boy hesitantly touched the letter with his hand.

"Hoot!"

He got more courageous and gently untied the letter. The owl turned to leave.

"Mum, Dad, I got an owl!" apparently this was the first time the boy had gotten mail of his own.

"Then feed the owl, Billy." his father ordered sternly. "You must never forget to reward the bird."

The boy blushed and quickly spooned up some vegetables from his plate then held the spoon out to the owl.

Vegetables? She almost refused, but a glance at the boy's plate informed her that he might not have anything more appropriate available. Unless he carried owl treats in his pocket this was the best he could do.

The dog barked at her and wagged his tail.

She decided to pick a pea and leave. Dogs were weird creatures and she didn't trust them no matter how friendly they looked.

Billy watched the owl fly out, secretly dropped another pea for That Dog and finally opened the letter.

Dear Mr. Snape!

You have been accepted into Hogwarts ...

"Hogwarts?" Billy exclaimed.

Only this morning he and his big brother had searched though the old school books in the basement to find which ones he would be able to use in his first year at West Hogsmeade. They'd also put some aside that they'd decided to sell to have extra money for new books. And now he was supposed to go to Hogwarts?

"Show me that letter." his mother ordered and Billy obediently handed it over.

Sarah Snape read the letter through twice.

"Severus?" she pressed out behind clenched teeth when she was done. "What is this about, Severus?"

Severus sighed and reached out for the letter. "Let me see."

"Why is our son being invited to that place?"

Severus retracted his hand when it became obvious that Sarah didn't intend to give him Billy's letter. "I don't know. Believe me, I had no idea." he shrugged helplessly. "Maybe they assumed that because Draco graduated from Hogwarts, his brother would go there too?"

"They're not even supposed to know about Billy's existence." Sarah reminded him. "Even if Draco mentioned him to one of the teachers once, that is no reason to put him on the waiting list right away."

Severus sighed deeply. "Albus."

"What about Uncle Albus?" Billy asked eagerly. "Is he coming to visit?"

Uncle Albus was Billy's godfather and very rich. He always brought Billy a wonderful gift when he came. Most of the time they were toys, absolutely new never before used toys.

Thanks to Uncle Albus Billy had the biggest and newest toy collection in all of Merlin Park. Ten stuffed animals, fifteen plastic toys, a soccer ball, a few board games and a Muggle toy car.

Well, okay so the toy car had been second hand when he'd gotten it and it hadn't come from Uncle Albus either. It had been a Christmas gift from his brother, but it was still one of his favourite toys.

"No, Uncle Albus is definitely not coming." Billy's Mum declared. "It's his fault you got this letter. You are not going to Hogwarts. Forget that nonsense."

"But Mum, I don't even want to go to Hogwarts." Billy laughed. "I don't know anybody there and Miracle Melly will never accept me, if I'm in boarding school all year."

It was Billy's biggest wish to impress the leader of the Rakers and be invited to join the gang. At eleven he was finally old enough. Primary school kids rarely got into a gang, because they were considered too young. Now that he was going to start wizarding school in a little over a month, though, Billy was sure that Melly would notice and invite him at any moment.

"Indeed, this must have been a mistake. I'll go to the school tomorrow and clear it up with Minerva." Billy's Dad decided.

"Who's Minerva?" Billy asked.

"Minerva McGonagall, the one who wrote that letter." Severus explained. "I'll just tell her that we're not interested and you want to go to school with your friends."

 

The second year's letters had been much easier to write. All these students really needed to know was when term started and what books to buy.

Minnerva had started writing the letters at seven in the morning. At ten she'd finished and finally allowed the house elves to bring her a quick breakfast.

After that she had started the third years' letters. Those were more difficult. She'd started by setting one quill to write Hogsmeade permission forms and the other the students' letters. The more problematic book lists she kept for after she was done with the envelopes.

The book lists weren't named, so she ran the risk of confusing them, if she didn't put them in the envelopes right away. For first and second year that made no difference as all students required the same books. The older students however each had different electives and therefore required different books. She would have to add the elective books by hand once the quills had finished writing the standard books. Resetting the quills for a different text for each combination of subjects was even more work, than that.

Minerva was just finishing the fourth envelope when the library door swung open and Severus Snape burst into the room scowling in a way she'd rarely seen since the death of Voldemort six years ago.

"Good morning, Severus." She smiled hoping to calm his anger by acting welcoming. "If I'd known you were coming. I'd..."

"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" Severus demanded and slammed a piece of parchment onto the table.

The two magical quills jumped from the sudden jolt and left ugly black stains on their parchments.

"Severus, please." Minerva chastised. "I need to finish these by the end of the week."

Severus frowned at the parchments on her desk. "You would be faster, if you didn't write any unnecessary ones."

"Unnecessary?" Minerva looked down at the crumpled parchment Severus had slammed under her nose in confusion. It looked familiar.

"Billy wouldn't even want to attend Hogwarts, if we could afford it." Severus hissed. "He has been looking forward to attending West Hogsmeade Wizarding School for years. All his friends are going there, all the older kids he admires, all his classmates from primary school."

"West Hogsmeade?" Minerva gasped. "But why? What do you mean afford it?"

"Yes, West Hogsmeade." Severus nodded. "That's where we live and children who live in West Hogsmeade go to a school that's called West Hogsmeade as well. Is that so hard to understand?"

"But... but... but..."

"But nothing." Severus continued. "I expect you to take my son off your list right now. We never put him down for Hogwarts in the first place."

"But Hogwarts is the much better school." Minerva finally got out. "William will have much better chances."

"Billy." Severus corrected. "His name is Billy, not William."

"Billy!" echoed the raven on his shoulder.

Weird kind of bird, Minerva thought. The animal's name was weird too. Something from a Norse myth. Hugin? No, that had been Draco's bird. Odin's other raven ...

"Just think of the tradition!"

"My wife's family has a very long tradition of attending West Hogsmeade." Severus smirked. "A tradition Billy is going to honour."

"But Draco..."

"We didn't feel it was right for Draco to switch schools just before taking his OWLs and let him stay in the same school for the two last years as well, but that might have been a mistake. Looking back now Draco would have been happier at West Hogsmeade. He'd have fit in better there and could have been with his friends. I am not going to make the same mistake with Billy."

"Mistake?" Minerva was frantically trying to order her thoughts.

"Mistake." confirmed the raven.

Severus had her completely unbalanced and she knew perfectly that the only way to win an argument against Severus Snape was to convince him with well founded, clearly stated facts. Whole sentences and logical argumentation were absolute musts, if you wanted Severus to take you seriously.

Unfortunately that usually required being prepared for his arguments and having given the matter at hand a lot of thought in advance. Minerva however was completely unprepared for someone, especially Severus, turning down Hogwarts.

"Yes, mistake. You may consider this our answering owl. Good day, Minerva." and before Minerva could find her voice again, he had already rushed out the door.

Munin. That was the raven's name.

Ravens cost barely anything in wizarding pet shops. A cheap pet for a wizard from a cheap part of town.

Whatever had possessed Severus Snape to raise a family in Merlin Park of all places?

His wife's family had a tradition of attending West Hogsmeade? A cheap pet and a cheap school.

Hogwarts' wages weren't that bad, were they? Minerva got by fine on her own with a little house in the eastern part Hogsmeade. Would she have financial problems, if she had a husband and two children to support in addition to herself?

The quill writing the students' letters made an impatient beeping noise. Right, it required the next name to continue. Where was her list again?

"Mr. Brown." she told the quill, then went to count the Hogsmeade forms.

Ten. Thirty-two to go.

She picked up Billy's crumpled letter and tried to flatten it.

Maybe Severus's wife had demanded they live in Merlin Park out of tradition? Maybe Severus just loved her too much to leave her for a better part of town?

She remembered Draco's old backpack and his torn hand me down books. The old patched up robes he'd worn in seventh year. That ugly old goose feather quill and the Muggle pen he'd used to take notes in class.

So William, no Billy, Billy Snape would not go to Hogwarts.

She smiled a little at the name. Billy. It was an endearment as much as a name and the way Severus had insisted in its use ... Whatever else he might lack, Billy certainly had his father's love.

But he would not go to Hogwarts. The son of a Hogwarts teacher and head of House was not going to go to Hogwarts.

If the Daily Prophet ever got wind of that, they'd probably turn it into proof that even the teachers themselves didn't trust in the quality of Hogwarts' education.

Or would they blame it on Albus? They could claim, that clearly the headmaster had refused to accept the boy in a heartless act to prevent any suspicion of corruption, should Billy Snape happen to do well in school.

BEEP!

Minerva started and dug for her list again. She should go back to addressing envelopes, before all the letters were written.

"Ms Carter." she read out to the quill.

It didn't matter what the Daily Prophet wrote. Billy deserved a good education. Maybe Draco could help out with some money for his little brother. He ought to have his own income by now.

Or maybe Albus could be convinced to grant Billy a scholarship? He'd always liked Severus.

But she had no idea where Albus was or when he'd be back and in the meantime Billy was getting ready to attend that hell hole of a school in West Hogsmeade. She had to save the boy somehow.

But how?

BEEP!

"Huh? What already?" Minerva sighed. "Mr. Cooper."

She really had to get back to those envelopes and the Hogsmeade forms were almost done as well. Minerva decided to set the second quill to writing book lists rather than student letters. She was too far behind with the envelopes already.

So where was the address of Mr. Brown again?

Ah, yes, right there. She managed to address three envelopes, before she had to start that second quill on the book lists.

She wondered what it was like to live in Merlin Park. She had been living in Hogsmeade for almost as long as she'd been teaching at Hogwarts, but in all those years she'd never even seen Merlin Park.

She'd been to West Hogsmeade, yes. She'd walked past the school Billy was supposed to go to. What an ugly building it was! No hint of the romantic atmosphere that welcomed the students at Hogwarts.

Occasionally she'd even visited the market, though she usually left the grocery-shopping to her house elf. The market was quite an affair. It was the only wizarding market in all of Scotland and therefore visited by witches an wizards from all over the country. The fruits and vegetables were usually fresh and of excellent quality and the meat was really worth the trip, but there were also a lot of stands Minerva had no use for at all.

Muggle items and second hand clothes were on sale as well as divination supplies. Second hand books were something she could only frown at and the shabby old bookshop didn't tempt her much either.

She wondered whether all the shops in West Hogsmeade looked like that.

What might the houses in Merlin Park be like? She knew that they each housed more than one family, had been built big and cheap. They probably looked just like that school, big, flat and ugly.

How anyone could actually want to live in such a place, she'd never understand.

"Beep!" the still working quill protested once again.

At this rate she'd never get through the third years.

Minerva forced herself to concentrate on her task. She gave the first quill the name of the next student, set the second quill to record and wrote the first book list, then let it loose among the fresh parchments.

By that time the first quill was beeping again and then Minerva returned to her envelopes. She made good time until she reached the address of a student from Hogsmeade.

The girl was a Slytherin, she remembered. She didn't live in West Hogsmeade, but Minerva still wondered whether she knew Billy Snape.

It wasn't likely. The girl lived only a few streets from her own house and Minerva hadn't even known. Why would she be any more familiar with the people of Merlin Park than Minerva was?

But she was a Slytherin. If she knew Billy, what would she think when he didn't show up to be sorted on the first of September? What would Severus tell her, if she asked?

Another BEEP reminded her that that wasn't important and she'd better get back to work.

She managed to address half of the third years' envelopes that afternoon, but since their book lists weren't complete, she only took the second years' letters with her when she went to the owlery that evening.

There weren't that many owls available anyway. Only eleven birds had remained behind yesterday and most of the others would not be back, yet.

Indeed she found only fifteen owls sitting on their perches and one of them looked so exhausted that she decided to let him rest.

Her friend the old owl seemed fine, though and the small town just outside of Aberdeen, one of the second years lived in wasn't that far. Minerva reminded herself to reserve a certain third year Slytherin's letter for this owl's next trip.

"There you go, girl." She tied the letter securely, but gently to her leg. "No need to hurry with this. Feel free to take two days for the trip. I'm a little behind with the writing of the next batch."

The owl hooted at her and flew out.

"Next I need a bird to go to Wales." She picked a quiet barn owl who hadn't gotten a letter the day before.

A dark feathered eagle owl screeched a protest, but Minerva just smiled at him.

"No, no, I need you to take this to Iceland. Can't send one of the small owls that far across the ocean, can I?"

"Hoot!" the eagle owl agreed and stuck out his leg majestically.

He refused to be petted good bye before he took off.

The owlery looked very empty by the time Minerva left. With the single exhausted owl fast asleep in the back corner it was hard to believe that this place was usually filled with movement and noise.

On the way back into the equally deserted school Minerva crossed the empty Quidditch pitch. Even Hagrid's hut looked deserted. She didn't know where the half giant was spending his holidays.

For a moment she hoped to meet Argus Filch, or maybe even Albus in the halls, but not even a house elf popped into view. Had they already gone to bed?

It wasn't likely. Perhaps they were already cleaning the castle in preparation for the start of term. The summer holidays were the only time they cold do any truly thorough cleaning of the common rooms.

She returned to the library one last time and finished addressing the envelopes. Tomorrow she'd match the book lists with them and seal the letters.

Tomorrow afternoon, that was. Tomorrow morning she had something else to do. She just couldn't allow little Billy to be sent to that horrible place when he was meant to go to Hogwarts and she would see to it that he didn't.

 

A/N: Will Minerva ever finish those letters? Will Severus change his mind about what school Billy should go to? And will Billy become a Raker?

 

In the next chapter: Minerva meets the Lions. Draco has a big announcement and Sarah wants Albus to stay out of her family's life.


	2. In Merlin Park

Chapter 2: In Merlin Park

 

Early the next morning Minerva flooed to her house in Hogsmeade. She had tried to find Severus' floo address, but not even his owl address was listed in his file in the headmaster's office and he didn't show up in the official registry either.

Therefore Minerva had decided to simply walk. Merlin Park wasn't that far from Hogsmeade's center after all and a walk would do her good. The only downside was that she'd have to walk through West Hogsmeade and Merlin Park itself. She put on an old robe that hopefully didn't make her look too rich and kept her wand ready.

"Ises Mistress sure she's wants to go to West Hogsmeade?" her house elf hopped from one foot to the other in distress. "Bibby ises goes for Mistress. Bibby ises knows West Hogsmeade. Bibby ises goes to market there often."

"No thanks, Bibby." Minerva smiled at the little creature. "It's really nice of you, but I have to talk to these people personally. I have been to the market before, too. I'll find my way."

Bibby wrung the corner of her neatly platted pillowcase in distress, but didn't object any further.

The first part of the walk was very pleasant. Hogsmeade's center was beautiful at this time of the year and in the morning it wasn't that hot either. Cooler air greeted her as she neared the river and it was nice to watch it flow by under her as she crossed the bridge into West Hogsmeade.

The shabby houses here had a certain charm as well, Minerva thought as she walked on to the market place. The school was still ugly, though and the market place itself was littered with all sorts of garbage that had remained behind from the last market day. Minerva wondered how often the town had it cleaned.

A group of children wearing orange scarves watched her curiously as she dug out her map of Hogsmeade.

That street over there should take her straight to the park. Then she'd have the problem of finding the right house.

One of the children followed her as she continued on her way. Minerva fought down a touch of nervousness. The girl looked no older than twelve and Minerva knew how to handle twelve year olds. This was just a child, probably a squib as well.

The girl remained behind after a few blocks and Minerva inwardly scolded herself for her reaction. Most likely the girl hadn't been watching her a all. It had just been a coincidence.

A little later a boy in a yellow t-shirt with the word 'Avengers' scrawled onto it in red paint took the girl's place and by now the surrounding buildings looked a little disquieting, too.

Most of them were two or three stories high and there was graffiti on almost every wall. The boy looked a little older than the girl had as well.

Minerva pulled her wand out as discreetly as possible and slipped it into her sleeve. This way she should be able to bring it out much faster.

The boy appeared to have noticed anyway. He fell behind a little, but still followed her at a distance.

The slightly yellowish leaves of a bush were Minerva's first hint that she neared Merlin Park. Soon dry grass and trees came into sight as well. The houses loomed over them grey and ugly.

Minerva suppressed a shudder and looked around for the boy. He had disappeared. In his place two small girls crawled out from under the bush as she entered the park. Both wore black t-shirts and were barefoot.

Well, at least those two couldn't be dangerous. Maybe their presence was a good sign. They wouldn't be out here, if any of the gangs were about, would they?

Then again maybe the gangs wouldn't touch such obviously money-less children. Minerva clutched the tip of her wand tightly. She only had to slip it out through her hand, if she needed it.

Now what house did the Snapes live in? Minerva took the path towards the closest door. There had to be a number on the door.

One of the two girls started to climb up a tree, the other turned around and ran off.

Minerva inwardly shook her head at herself for having suspected them of watching her.

There was the number. Twelve. That didn't look promising. She'd have to try the next building.

The girl scrambled down her tree again, when she realised that Minerva was coming back. Maybe she was watching her after all?

Probably just out of curiosity, she decided. She was most likely just bored and Minerva was the only remotely interesting thing around.

Minerva returned to the main path and followed it. There was another path leading to another door of the same building.

She hesitated, then followed it and checked that door as well. Number 11! Then each door was numbered as a different building. That meant this one here was apparently numbers twelve to nine. But would eight to four, be opposite from it, or next to it?

Minerva decided to try next to first, because that was where the main path went from here. She returned to it and followed it passing the next two side paths by. There were trees and bushes in the gap between the two ... What were they? Houses? Buildings? Blocks? If they had several house numbers, that would make them several houses, right?

Anyway, there were bushes and trees between them and more houses behind those. Minerva only hoped that they weren't considered part of Merlin Park as well.

The first door of the second whatever they were called surprised her by being number thirteen. Why was thirteen next to eight, if twelve was on the other end? Minerva almost turned away, but there was a Soccer field to her left now. Draco had played Soccer. He'd probably learned that here, so the Snapes had to live close to the Soccer field.

There was a group of green dressed teenagers hanging around the closer goal and eyeing Minerva lazily. They were all about Hogwarts age, though the tallest might have been even older.

"What do you know." he called out loud enough that even she could hear. "A proper old witch in robes!"

"Are you lost, old lady?" a girl yelled. "Need someone to guide you home?"

Minerva decided not to react. How stupid of her not to remember that most people wore Muggle clothes in West Hogsmeade. To distract herself she tried to picture Severus Snape in Muggle clothes and failed miserably. Without his billowing black robes Severus just wouldn't be Severus.

The next door turned out to be number 14 and now the green gang kids had left the goal and were headed right for her. Maybe she was simply on the wrong side of the park? The other end looked a lot more welcoming from here anyway, but would she make it there past the gang?

"We might be able to help you, old lady." one of the smaller boys offered as the gang reached her just when she'd returned to the main path. "For a little reward."

There was no path through the Soccer field. She had to go around.

"No, thank you, I can find my way myself."

"Looks like you're looking for something, though." a girl challenged. "We know where to find it. We live here, you know. It won't cost you much and we'd all be happy."

"Thank you, but I do not have enough money to waste on information I only need to look around a little to discover myself." Minerva hoped that made her sound sufficiently poor for the kids to lose interest.

They had no way to tell that she wasn't a West Hogsmeade resident, right? All that had been obvious from her actions was that she wasn't from Merlin Park.

"Look, little lady," the oldest boy grinned. "This is our territory here and I don't think we granted you free passage."

"And I don't think you're old enough to be able to grant me anything." Minerva decided and slipped out her wand.

The children backed away at the sight, but continued to hurl insults and stones after her until she had rounded the Soccer field. A few metres past it the stones suddenly stopped and the yelling sounded more distant than before.

Minerva resisted the urge to examine the places she had been hit. She probably was developing a lump on her head and numerous bruises on her arms and back. Still, she considered herself lucky to have gotten away like that.

A little further down the path a group of children dressed in red t-shirts was throwing pebbles at a squirrel that was for some reason unwilling to abandon its tree. Maybe it had a nest and babies in there?

Minerva felt for the animal, but didn't dare to get involved. The children were small enough, but who knew how far behind the green gang was. She didn't want to end up in the same situation the squirrel was in again.

The block turned out to be wrong once again. She had apparently started in the wrong direction when she'd reached the park.

It was almost lunchtime by the time she finally reached the right door. Now how did one get in there? Minerva saw no bell pull or brass knocker and she didn't have a key.

One of the children in the red t-shirts suddenly dashed past her. The girl pressed herself against the door and it swung open. Apparently it had been open anyway.

Minerva caught it before it could fall closed again and stepped through and almost back out again when she noticed the smell. Yuck! How could people live in a house that stank like that?

The stairs were dark and narrow and Minerva wondered when they had last been cleaned. People had spit bubblegum on the steps and stuck it under the handrail. Muddy footprints of naked feet decorated every second step and there were paw prints as well. They had probably, hopefully, been left by the same perpetrators that were responsible for the smell.

There were glass shards on the first floor landing. A second look revealed that the lamp was broken. Minerva carefully stepped around the damage wondering what might have caused it.

All the door numbers here started with a 1 which led Minerva to assume that the Snapes had to live on the second floor.

There was a little less graffiti up there and the smell was getting fainter. Or had Minerva's nose just become used to it?

The corridor was much too dark and Minerva lit her wand almost expecting to see rats and cockroaches take off at the sudden light. There was no living thing in sight, though.

There was an almost clean doormat outside the first door, she discovered. At least one hint that the filth didn't continue into all the flats. In fact most of the doors had quite nice doormats.

The Snapes' was predictably green and black. Loud barking answered her knock. Severus had a dog? Well, maybe it belonged to the boy.

"Bell!" announced the unmistakable voice of Munin, the raven.

Footsteps.

"Right. Who'd visit us and not know to ring the bell?" called a woman's voice. "Must be a stranger, Billy."

"Right Mum." said Billy opening the door. "Hello?"

A small dog bounced out of the door and jumped up her legs wagging his tail and barking like mad.

Minerva flinched. She had very little experience with dogs. She knew that tail wagging was supposed to be a friendly gesture, but the barking sounded threatening.

Billy bent down and pulled the dog into his arms. "Stop that!"

He was an adorable boy, Minerva thought. Severus' black hair and eyes, but with a small very childish nose that made him look younger than she knew he was.

Minerva smiled at him. "Hello. Are you Billy Snape?"

"Yes?"

He had the same distrustful look as his father.

"I'm Minerva McGonagall from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Minerva explained. "And I have come to talk to you."

"Why? What do you want with me?"

More distrust. Knowing Severus she should probably have expected that.

"Who is it Billy?" Ah, so Severus was home after all.

"That Minerva woman." Billy called back into the flat. "What do I do with her?"

"Minerva?" Severus sounded incredulous.

"That school again." scolded the woman's voice. "Won't they ever leave us alone?"

"Let her in, Billy. I'll deal with her." That was Severus' again.

The boy obediently stepped aside to let Minerva pass through the door. The dog started barking again and struggled in the boy's grip as she stepped into the flat.

The door led into a small wardrobe where Minerva quickly slipped out of her shoes. She wasn't offered slippers and had to continue barefoot.

Another already open door led her into the living room where Billy had apparently been in the middle of setting the table when she'd knocked.

"I suppose you're staying for lunch." Severus stated.

He was leaning against a door post on the other side of the living room. Regardless of whether Minerva could imagine it or not he was indeed wearing Muggle clothes and didn't look any different from the Severus Snape she knew despite it.

Over his shoulder Minerva could see glass bottles on a table in the room behind him. Apparently this was his private lab and she'd interrupted his brewing.

That was bad. Severus usually got grumpy when one disturbed his work.

"Eat." confirmed the raven from somewhere above her.

Minerva looked up and discovered him perched on top of a cupboard peering down at her curiously.

"I suppose so, though I didn't mean to intrude on you. It took me longer to find this address than I planned."

"Fine." declared the woman Minerva assumed must be Mrs Snape. "Then you won't mind, if we cut this short. You can go back to that castle of yours and tell Albus Billy wants nothing to do with your damn school and he should stay out of our lives."

"I don't want Uncle Albus to stay out of my life." Billy stated with a slight pout. "He's still my godfather."

"That doesn't mean you have to go to his horrible school." the woman snapped.

"No, but I still want him to visit." Billy said. "Can you tell him that ... er ... Professor?"

"But Hogwarts provides much better chances than West Hogsmeade." Minerva turned to the woman. "Billy will get a better education there."

"I doubt that." Severus took over again. "West Hogsmeade offers knowledge Hogwarts just doesn't have."

"Knowledge for squibs." McGonagall snorted. "Billy is quite obviously not a squib, though."

"It's still helpful to understand Muggle culture." Severus declared. "And West Hogsmeade also offers much better quality in its History and Care for Magical Creatures lessons. It has a bigger variety of electives to choose from, fine teachers and various so-called 'clubs'."

"Clubs?" Minerva asked. "You mean like the duelling club we once had?"

"Yes, West Hogsmeade also has a Soccer club, Acting club, Physics club, Art club, Chess club, Ballet club, Music ... I believe they even had Basket Weaving last year."

"That won't get Billy a job after school."

"One of Draco's best friends took ballet in school and became a ballerina." Mrs Snape pointed out. "She even went on an international tour once and now that she's back she's a ballet teacher. A boy from the neighbourhood became a professional Soccer player and every year a few West Hogsmeade graduates go on to Muggle university. I believe Draco was the last Hogwarts graduate that managed that."

Minerva blushed a little. Her own house's Virginia Weasley had tried after Draco, but her lack of knowledge in Mathematics and Muggle culture had forced her to give up.

"Draco managed to gain a degree then?" she asked. Severus had never mentioned it and she'd assumed that the boy had come to his senses and returned to the wizarding world after a while.

"Three." Billy beamed with pride. "In Physics, Chemistry and Potions. My brother can do almost anything. He can repair anything that's broken, brew any Potion and he can explain anything even if it isn't magical."

"And your brother went to Hogwarts." Minerva reminded him.

"That was a mistake." Mrs Snape declared. "He would have been happier here. I still remember how hard it was for him to always be behind his friends in Muggle Studies. He used to study in his holidays to catch up and none of his classmates in school understood his interest in Math and Physics. If Severus hadn't been there to help him with those, he'd never have managed."

"And don't you want the same for Billy? Won't it be easier for him with his father there to watch and support him in school?" Minerva tried. "Don't you think he'll learn more from his own father, a fully trained Potions Master?"

"Father or brother really doesn't make much of a difference there." Mrs Snape answered. "They are both excellent Potions teachers and it just happens that he would be more comfortable at the school his brother works in."

Huh? Minerva blinked a few times. "Oh! Draco teaches Potions at West Hogsmeade?"

That was quite a surprise attack from behind.

"Potions, Chemistry and the Math and Physics clubs." Severus confirmed. "He even plans to add a small Alchemy group this year. Finally we have a chance to pass on what little alchemical knowledge is left to the next generation again. Wouldn't you say the chance to learn that is worth not having the word Hogwarts on your diploma?"

"But you could start an Alchemy club at Hogwarts as well, couldn't you?" Minerva suggested. "I'm sure Albus wouldn't object."

"Without Math and Chemistry it'd be useless." Severus answered. "And I doubt we'd have enough interested students for all three. Especially if I teach them. West Hogsmeade has a much larger student body."

This path was a dead end.

"But what of Billy's education in the other subjects? Transfiguration for example?"

"Do you know Professor Winter?" Severus grinned.

That was a bad sign. Severus didn't grin often and when he did the reasons were rarely pleasant. Even Voldemort's defeat hadn't changed that.

"No," Minerva admitted. "Is that the West Hogsmeade Transfigurations teacher?"

"The older of the two." Severus answered lightly. "You really should meet him someday. Draco is quite impressed with his skill, but of course he's no animagus. He just has that uncanny ease with unusual transfigurations. I've personally seen him casually turn a hair pin into a piano."

"But can he teach?"

"Judging from how easily Draco returned to your class after his time in West Hogsmeade in his fifth year, I'd think so." Severus grinned.

Fallen right into the trap.

"Draco's performance was a lot better than before when he returned." Minerva admitted. "But that might partially have been due to his improved attention in class. I always put it down to the psychological problems he seemed to have while he was still in the care of Lucius Malfoy."

"You thought I taught him Transfigurations?" Severus asked incredulously.

"No," admitted Minerva. "I think you taught him to study."

"Quite the opposite, actually." Severus grinned again. "I taught him how not to study."

He seemed more relaxed here. Maybe there was something else she could say? She glanced at Billy again. Such an adorable child!

"What about Charms, though? Herbology, Astronomy ... Flying!" she asked desperately.

"West Hogsmeade has two very good Charms teachers. One of them happens to be Draco's best friend, by the way. He's known Billy since he was a baby." Mrs Snape answered setting a bowl of soup on the table which, as Minerva noticed only now had been set for six. "Draco found both Herbology and Astronomy very interesting when he went to West Hogsmeade and Billy will most likely never own a broom."

"West Hogsmeade does teach the basics of Flying." Severus added. "Just because they don't have enough brooms for a Qui..."

"We're getting married!" the door burst open behind Minerva making her jump and turn around.

"Oh, that's wonderful, Draco!" Mrs Snape dashed past her to hug the newcomers. "But you know you really don't have to for our sake, Cathy darling."

"Oh no no," laughed the young dark haired woman that had burst in with Draco. "I absolutely want to. I want a real family for my children someday."

"Family!" announced the raven on Draco's shoulder happily.

"When?" squealed Billy. "When are you getting married? Will you have a big party, like Charlie and Matt did? Who are you inviting?"

Draco laughed, lifted the boy into his arms and turned around once. "In spring when the weather will be warm enough so we can have a really, really big party outside in the park. Bigger than Charlie and Matt's, like a big Soccer game."

Hugin cawed a complaint about all the unpredictable movements and fluttered over onto the table.

"So you're inviting everybody?"

Draco nodded and set the boy down again. "All of West Hogsmeade."

"Even people from outside the park?" Billy asked wide eyed.

"My students would never forgive me, if I didn't." Draco laughed. "Now, lets eat before the soup gets cold."

Minerva didn't find a chance to return the conversation to the topic of Hogwarts during the meal, though. The family was too busy discussing the wedding. Besides the open invitation to everybody there would have to be special invitations as well.

"Mustn't forget Old Joe." Severus reminded them. "He has to be one of the guests of honour, or he'll never forgive us."

"And Aunt Sabrina, of course." Draco nodded. "The headmaster, or maybe all of the teachers?"

"Better ask all of them personally." Cathy advised. "After all you'll see them everyday once the new school year starts."

"And don't forget the school's caretaker. What was his name again? David Smith?" Mrs Snape added.

Draco nodded. "Don't worry, I wouldn't forget David. He's the only other former Slytherin on staff."

"All of our old gang mates." Cathy continued the list. "Jack ought to be out of prison by then."

"Should we invite Sammie's girlfriend as well?" Draco asked. "I'm still not sure how serious they are."

"Probably not personally. He'll bring her anyway, if they're still together by then." Severus decided. "What about the current gang members, though?"

"Depends on whether Billy has joined by then or not." Draco shrugged. "If not, I'm for inviting only Mely herself. She can bring the rest, or just come as an old friend."

"Mary and Larry's baby will be born around that time." Cathy remembered. "We should ask for the due date before we decide the exact date for the wedding."

"By the way, Dad." Draco turned to Severus. "Can the daughter of two squibs be a witch? Charlie swears little Maggie must have summoned her teddy from the floor into her crib."

Severus shrugged. "Why not? There are witches and wizards born into entirely Muggle families. It seems even more likely when the parents are squibs."

"Still, Charlie might just have forgotten that she picked that teddy up herself." Mrs Snape commented. "Don't encourage her hopes, yet, or the disappointment will be too big when Maggie turns out to be a squib after all."

"We mustn't forget to invite Clarence." Cathy stated.

"And Neville and Anya." added Draco. "Do you think Gregory and Vincent would want to come?"

"It can't hurt to ask them." Mrs Snape answered.

"Bubbles, Curly, Sparks, Keith ..." Draco continued. "All of them with girlfriends respectively wives, of course.

"Svenja, Lisa ... Do you think I should invite Amy?" asked Cathy.

And like that it continued all through lunch. Minerva didn't recognise any names other than Neville. At least she remembered that Draco had been friends with one Neville Longbottom back in school and that Severus had once mentioned that some potions ingredient had been a gift from Neville. Apparently he and his wife ran a glasshouse now.

After lunch Minerva soon found herself escorted to the door with the promise that she, too, was of course invited to the wedding. She'd be able to learn the exact date from Albus who would of course receive a written invitation.

Minerva aparated home from right outside the Snapes' door. She definitely didn't want to take another walk through Merlin Park.

After reassuring her anxious house elf that she was fine, she stepped into the floo and returned to Hogwarts. There she took a minute to change into fresh robes, grabbed a few extra rolls of parchment and headed for the library to continue with the student letters.

She just couldn't think about the disappointment now. Or about Severus. After all Severus' lifestyle was his own business and there were lots of children each year that never went to Hogwarts.

She rounded another corner and had to make a sudden stop to avoid colliding with the last person she'd expected to see right now.

"Albus?"

"Why, hello Minerva!" the headmaster exclaimed happily. "I was already wondering where you were. I went to the library to greet you right when I returned this morning, but didn't find you there and Argus said he hadn't seen you since breakfast."

"I was in ... Albus, I need to talk with you."

Dumbledore twinkled. "Oh, that sounds serious. Do tell me."

"It's about Severus." Minerva sighed.

"Severus? He'll be back a week before the start of school as usual, I suppose. Why? Do you need him now?"

"Well, it's not really about Severus personally." Minerva explained. "It's actually more about his son."

"Ah yes, Draco." Albus smiled. "Did you know he actually teaches Potions now? Just like his father, no matter who he looks like."

"His other son, Albus." Minerva who'd known the headmaster long enough to recognise when he was about to go off on a tangent interrupted sternly. "The little one."

"Billy?" Albus asked sounding completely surprised. "How do you know about Billy?"

"From the students list." Minerva stated.

"The ... My, my, is the boy really already that old. It seems like it was only yesterday that I first held him in my arms as a tiny little baby."

"You've known about him for eleven years!" Minerva complained. "I hadn't even heard of him until two days ago. Why didn't you ever tell us? Why didn't Severus? I didn't even know that he's married. Why doesn't he ever bring his wife for Quidditch or Christmas, or ..."

"Ah, unfortunately Sarah has a strong dislike for Hogwarts." Albus explained still twinkling. "She herself graduated from West Hogsmeade, you know. Never liked the idea of Severus working here. She thinks I'm only using him." A moment of stunned silence. "She might be right."

"What?" gasped Minerva. "The nerve of the woman!"

"No, really Minerva. Just think about it. I didn't prevent Severus going to Azkaban despite all he'd done for our side during the first Voldemort war, then I only got him out because I desperately needed a Potions teacher and wanted to keep a spy on hand. He was in a terrible condition back then, but instead of giving him time to overcome it, I just kept putting him under pressure. He had to be ready to teach by the time the new school year started, had to keep up his act for the benefit of Voldemort's supporters, had to get ready to spy again at any moment. If I'd really meant to help him, if I'd really been his friend, I should have left him out of the second war, should have helped him heal. Instead it was Sarah that brought him back. She invested so much time and patience." Dumbledore sighed. "She's got a right to blame me."

"She doesn't." Minerva snorted. "You had a duty towards the entire wizarding world. You got Severus out of Azkaban and did as much as you could for him. You both still had a duty to fight Voldemort. We all did."

Albus shook his head. "Sarah doesn't see things that way. The people of West Hogsmeade are common folks, Minerva. They don't care for politics or the wizarding world. They care about survival and the well-being of their own families. To Sarah it makes no difference whether Voldemort or the ministry is in charge. She has no love for either. She wants them all to stay out of her life. She may care about West Hogsmeade and its people, but everybody else is an outsider, an intruder."

"Well, her narrow mindedness is no reason for you to feel guilty." Minerva declared. "It is causing a problem again, though."

"A problem?" Albus asked. "How so? There is no more war, no more Voldemort. I'm not planning to use Severus in any new campaigns. Sarah should be perfectly happy."

"She insists on sending Billy to West Hogsmeade's school rather than Hogwarts." Minerva explained. "At least I think that's her doing. The entire family seems to be in perfect agreement about it."

"Nonsense, why would she? They sent Draco to Hogwarts and have every reason to be satisfied with his education."

"Actually, Severus said leaving Draco at Hogwarts was a mistake. He claims the boy would have been happier a West Hogsmeade and that his education would have been insufficient for Muggle university, if he hadn't done additional work in the holidays."

"Insufficient?" Albus blinked, this time in surprise rather than happiness. "Well, we can't provide a complete Muggle education alongside the magical one, but neither can West Hogsmeade."

"According to Severus Hogwarts is far behind in Muggle Studies and West Hogsmeade offers Mathematics classes, which are very important for Muggle university. West Hogsmeade has more students going on to university, more electives, more clubs ... And Billy is looking forward to being taught Potions by his brother."

"I doubt there is anything on the first year Potions curriculum, that Billy doesn't already know, Minerva." Albus sighed. "The boy lives in a family of Potions experts. He has been assisting them since he was five and brewed his first potion when he was eight." He smiled. "Oh, I do believe Severus is trying to raise another Alchemist."

"And West Hogsmeade offers Alchemy lessons." Minerva groaned. "This is even worse than I thought."

"Now, now, don't worry about it Minerva." Dumbledore was still smiling. "I'll just pay Severus a little visit and talk that over. No problem at all."

"Beware of green dressed teenagers." Minerva warned. "They tried to stone me."

"The Lions?" Albus asked surprised. "What were you doing in their territory? What were you doing in West Hogsmeade in the first place?"

"Exactly what you just said. I went to have a talk with Severus and Billy, but it didn't go too well."

"You don't know how to handle Sarah. She's a difficult person to get along with."

"Well, Draco and his girlfriend didn't seem to have any problem with her. Of course I suppose 'we're getting married' is a more popular statement than 'I don't like your choice of school'."

"Getting married?" Dumbledore beamed. "Oh, finally! Draco and Cathy have been dating since they were fifteen and living together ever since the Snapes moved into the bigger flat. It was really past time."

"Bigger flat?" Minerva exclaimed. "That, that ... dump? It's tiny, the house is dirty and it stinks. How Severus can live in there is a mystery to me."

"It's not dirty." Albus sounded slightly offended. "Only the stairs are."

"Technicalities. Severus lives in a slum, Albus. Just what do you pay the poor boy?"

"As much as the ministry will let me." Dumbledore admitted. "And that sum has increased since Voldemort's fall. For Merlin Park the Snapes are a pretty rich family and it's a quite big flat."

"Five people in four rooms?"

"Three people, Minerva." Albus corrected. "Draco and Cathy don't live there. They kept the Snapes' old smaller flat."

"But, isn't there anything you can do with the ministry? At least get them a small house in a Muggle town or something."

"They like it in Merlin Park, Minerva." Albus tried to explain. "They don't want to move into a Muggle town."

Minerva snorted. "Oh, sure. Just lie to yourself, Albus."

"It's the truth, Minerva." Dumbledore insisted. "I don't understand what it is either, but there has to be something special about West Hogsmeade. You know what life Draco was used to before Severus adopted him. He wouldn't move out of West Hogsmeade, if you paid him to do it now. Severus says he sometimes talks about moving into a house nearer the market place, if he can earn enough money, but he doesn't seem all that serious about that plan."

"And so Billy shouldn't even have the chance to ever get out of there?" Minerva complained. "Albus, we have to do something."

"And I will." Dumbledore promised. "I'll visit Severus and talk him out of this, don't worry. Billy will be here on September the first. I'll see to it." he promised. "I'll have to remember to congratulate Draco and Cathy while I'm there. Oh, and have you heard? Harry's child was born yesterday. An adorable little witch. They're not sure what to name her, yet, though. Either Aphrodite or Artemis."

"Poor thing." Minerva commented. "I really hope they stick with Artemis at least. Can you imagine what the Slytherins would do to a girl called Aphrodite Potter? Especially in Potions class where they learn about aphrodisiac potions and love draughts. Severus won't try to control them at all."

"Now, now, it isn't that bad to be named after an antique goddess, is it Minerva?" Dumbledore teased.

Minerva gave him a stern look and decided that it was high time to return to her letters. She had to have all of them written by the end of next week.

 

A/N: Can Albus convince the Snapes? Will the Lions get him as well? And will everybody come to Draco's wedding?

 

In the next chapter: Albus visits Merlin Park and meets somebody he didn't expect and Sarah isn't happy with him.


	3. Dumbledore's Deal

Chapter 3: Dumbledore's Deal

 

"There he is!" Billy called into the flat. "Uncle Albus just apparated."

When his father had told him that he was expecting Albus Dumbledore to come visit them today or tomorrow, Billy had been so excited that he'd darted to the window right away and he'd been keeping watch for his godfather ever since.  
And indeed Uncle Albus had just apparated into the park and was heading for their house.

"Excellent," Severus smiled. "Help me send out the ravens, Billy."

Billy reluctantly left the window, even though Uncle Albus was already out of sight. Most likely he was climbing the stairs right now.

Severus had just fixed the first letter to Munin's leg and Billy obediently took the second and tied it to Hugin. Personally he thought his father was overdoing it a bit by borrowing Draco's raven, just so he could send out an alert that Uncle Albus had arrived.

Munin shot out through the window and Hugin followed him seconds later. Billy watched Munin disappear into the blue summer sky. Hugin had gone straight up as soon as he'd been outside and Billy would have had to stick his head out the window again to be able to see him.

A minute or so later the doorbell rang. That Dog shot up from his basket and raced to the door barking and wagging in excitement.

Billy started after him, but Sarah was closer and opened the door before he could reach it.

"Good morning, Albus." she greeted him in a rather cold tone.

"Uncle Albus!" Billy yelled and threw his arms around his godfather.

"Billy!" Albus called in almost the same tone and hugged the boy back. He was too used to Sarah's coldness to let it bother him anymore. "I do believe you've grown again."

Billy beamed at the compliment, though he knew it wasn't true. He was small for his age and he so wished to be the tallest eleven year old around. It was so degrading to be looked down at by mere ten year old Shark wannabes.

"Oh, let Albus come in and sit down, Billy." Severus admonished the boy and Billy reluctantly let go of the headmaster.

"Would you like some toast?" Sarah offered. "There's some left from breakfast. And some tea, of course."

She didn't wait to hear Dumbledore's answer before setting the food before him on the table. Just how much had she prepared for breakfast? The leftovers looked like they were meant for about four people.

"The tea will be ready in a moment." she promised.

"So how was your holiday?" Severus asked. I heard you spent a few days in Sweden."

Dumbledore nodded slightly perplexed. Normally Severus avoided small talk. It seemed almost as if he were playing for time, but what could he possibly be waiting for?

"Oh yes, I only returned yesterday, in fact." Albus beamed at Severus. "I met two possible future candidates for the DADA position. Harald would be perfect for it. He already taught the subject for two years. His English is a little wobbly, though. We had this funny little misunderstanding ..."

The doorbell interrupted his tale. Once again That Dog raced to the door and Billy almost stepped on his paw as he went to open it.

The barking and tail wagging immediately doubled at the sight of the new arrivals.

"Ah, Draco, Mike, come on in." Sarah called happily. "I take it you will be Draco's best man?"

Mike laughed. "Of course. I'm so glad he asked me. I almost feared he'd choose Neville over me."

Draco laughed as well. "Nah, I'm going to ask him to help with the decorations. He's good with flowers and he wouldn't want to be in the spotlight anyway."

"Draco and Cathy are getting married." Severus explained to Albus. "We're a little busy with wedding plans at the moment."

"Ah yes, Minerva mentioned it." Albus beamed. "Congratulations Draco and all my best wishes to Cathy, too. I had hoped to see her as well."

"She's gone out with Charlie, I'm afraid." Draco answered. "Looking at wedding robes, I think."

"I see." said Albus wondering how he could best turn the conversation to Billy's schooling.

"Why don't you sit down, boys?" Sarah intervened. "I was just making some tea for the headmaster. Oh, I'm sorry, we completely forgot to introduce you two! Mike, this is Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts. Albus, this is Professor Tiller."

"Professor?" Albus asked surprised. Of course he should have expected Draco to have other teachers among his friends.

"Unfortunately he teaches Charms, Albus, not DADA." Severus remarked, then turned to Mike. "Professor Flitwick has held that position at Hogwarts for decades with excellent results. I doubt he has any intentions of quitting."

"Oh yes, Draco has told me so much about him." Mike smiled at Albus. "I wish I could meet him someday."

"We are planning to invite the entire Hogwarts staff to the wedding." Severus remarked. "But some of them will have to stay at the castle to watch the students. Remind me to introduce you to Filius, if he comes. Ah, thank you, Billy."

Billy was helping his mother to serve the tea. He was a little disappointed that Uncle Albus hadn't brought him a present this time, but then Uncle Albus was here to convince his parents to send him to a different school. Billy wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that.

He had always expected to go to school here in West Hogsmeade with all the other kids he knew from the park and from his primary school, but he loved his godfather dearly and Hogwarts held a sort of mystery. It would be interesting to see it from the inside, but all his friends would be here.

What was it like to go to boarding school and only come home during the holidays? It probably meant a lot more freedom and being an adult than going home to his mother everyday after school. Maybe it would even make him grow a little faster?

The conversation continued to consist of small talk and wedding plans and requests to pass the butter, until the doorbell rang once again. Munin, too, had apparently found his target at home.

Once again it was Billy who answered the door. "Good morning, headmaster." he greeted the man who arrived with Munin on his shoulder.

Albus shot around at the words. He hated sitting with his back to the door. The man was a complete stranger to him, an average wizard wearing a t-shirt and slightly faded jeans. If Albus had met him outside in the streets he'd have written him off as just another West Hogsmeade unemployed.

Oh well, so it was hard to tell the difference between the employed and the unemployed residents of West Hogsmeade.

"Ah, headmaster ..." Severus stood up to shake the man's hand, a gesture of respect Albus rarely saw from the grumpy head of Slytherin. "Thank you for coming. Albus, this is Ralph Donalds, the headmaster of West Hogsmeade Wizarding School."

That was what Severus had been waiting for! That sleazy Slytherin! For a moment Albus wondered whether he was in over his head. Despite Severus' presence he knew he was going to be the only representative of Hogwarts in this conversation, while West Hogsmeade was represented by its headmaster and two teachers. Not to mention that Sarah was on their side as well.

"You see Albus, I asked Ralph to meet with you, because I got the impression that you want Billy to attend your school." Severus continued.

"And as his godfather I am quite willing to finance his education as well." Albus threw in hastily.

"That is very kind of you, Albus," Severus nodded at him. "But aside from the financial problems I am also worried that Hogwarts doesn't offer its students nearly as big a variety of subjects as West Hogsmeade does. I fear that some of Billy's interests would be neglected there."

"We do have a Soccer team." Albus argued as he knew quite well how much Billy loved that game.

"A Soccer team that never plays against anybody." Severus pointed out. "And Billy has also been looking forward to taking Muggle Studies, which, though existing, is of very inferior quality at Hogwarts. What if in two years he'd like to take Conjuring? Or maybe he wants to learn Chemistry? He has already shown a great interest in Potions, so it might be just the thing for him. Alchemy is a family hobby, as you know. But of course Billy is his own person and might want to take a different path when he's older. He might develop an interest in Art, for example. West Hogsmeade offers several different clubs for its artistically inclined students. All Hogwarts has is a Chess club and occasionally Duelling classes."

"We don't have enough interested students for other clubs." Albus argued. "We'd gladly offer them, if enough students apply."

"Hogwarts doesn't have the numbers of students West Hogsmeade does." Severus confirmed. "I am sure Billy isn't the only student who'd profit from a larger variety of clubs and electives, however."

"West Hogsmeade has its shortcomings, too." Mike threw in. "We do not have the money to finance a Quidditch team, while you have four, and our Flying lessons are very limited and we lack a teacher for Divination."

"What Professor Tiller means is that we would like to offer you a partnership. Against a small fee your students could join our clubs and some electives, if we get to use your Flying equipment and Quidditch pitch and maybe send a few students into your Divination classes in return." Donalds explained. "We could also arrange Soccer matches or Chess tournaments and once we manage to build up an actual team even Quidditch games between our schools."

Albus blinked. The idea sounded familiar. Yes, Severus had suggested that before.

"It would also make it easier for Billy to keep contact with his friends, if he does attend Hogwarts, and he might look upon the idea more favourably." Severus hinted.

Albus was still trying to reorient himself. He had come here expecting to convince Sarah with facts about Hogwarts and offers of financial support. Instead he was offered a deal. Where was the catch?

"We can't have students wandering about between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade between classes." he argued. "It takes too much time, we can't supervise them on the entire way and they could use it as an excuse to sneak out of school. We'd hardly notice, if a student who doesn't take the subject walks out with a group headed to Conjuring class." "We could use portkeys." Draco returned. "The staff member giving out the portkey would also have a list of students supposed to take it."

"Madame Hooch will want to supervise the use of our school brooms."

"We do not have an actual Flying teacher anyway." Donalds agreed. "Her number of working hours will shoot up, though."

"There could be more students in each Flying lesson and one of the other teachers could take over the function of Quidditch coach." Severus suggested. "And Hogwarts could also offer its rooms for some of the clubs so it wouldn't always be its students having to port in and out."

"We would have to co-ordinate schedules." Dumbledore cautioned.

"That shouldn't be a problem." Draco said. "For now it will only be a small number of third years taking the other school's electives and the clubs all meet outside of class time anyway. The main logistical problem will be Flying classes."

"And we don't have to offer those for everybody right away either." Donalds added. "We could start with only the first years, or maybe offer it as a club for the older students. There wouldn't have to be more than one lesson a week for our students either, as the Sports classes give them additional exercise anyway."

"Sports classes?" Albus asked confused.

"Oh, those are the best." Draco smiled in fond memory.

"You need a specially equipped room and an experienced, specially trained teacher, though." Mike warned. "Or else you'll have nothing but accidents. Students can get seriously hurt in Sports."

"So can we borrow your teacher and room?" Albus asked.

"They're very well booked during class time and some of the clubs are held in there outside of the usual hours." Donalds said sounding doubtful. "I don't see how we could fit that many students in."

"Maybe we could alternate between Sports and Flying classes?" Mike suggested.

"The Flying classes are larger than our Sports classes, though, so there would be several openings on our end requiring you to adapt your schedules." Draco commented. "Maybe there's a way to coordinate our Sports classes with your study hours, so you won't have to move around the other classes."

Dumbledore nodded slowly. It sounded like a good deal and it was apparently the only way to get Billy.

"Fine." he agreed. "I only hope Minerva hasn't sent out the third years' letters, yet. I will need a complete list of your electives as soon as possible."

Donalds calmly held out a scroll. "The electives and the clubs as well as the schedules as currently planed. We will need a similar list from you to be able to co-ordinate the schedules."

"I'll need the third years' new elective choices, before we can arrange the final schedules, but I can owl you the rest of the lists as soon as I get back to Hogwarts. The applications for the clubs are usually handed in during the first week of school, though."

"I think, I have a better idea." Severus smirked. "Munin!"

 

Minerva had just gotten started on the fourth years' letters. She was beginning to get over her constant distraction problem. Her quills hadn't beeped at her for at least a quarter of an hour.

"Mr. Anatol Abrams." she dictated to the quill.

"Letter!" announced someone behind her.

Minerva shot around expecting to see one of the castle's ghosts as she would have noticed, if someone had come in through the door.

Instead it turned out to be Severus' strange bird.

"Letter!" Munin repeated accusingly and stretched out his leg towards her.

Severus was writing her? That was a rare occurrence. For a moment she wondered whether it might be a complaint about sending Albus to Merlin Park. Or had something happened to the headmaster?

McGonagall quickly grabbed the parchment away from the bird. Munin gave a protesting squawk at the sudden pull and retreated to the top of the next bookshelf where the witch couldn't reach him.

Minerva,  
I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll explain later. Do not send out any third year letters, yet. They will need to be changed. Please send me the schedules for the next school year and a list of students taking each elective as well as a list of all clubs that have been suggested for the new school year. Just give them all to Munin. He knows where to take them.

Albus

Albus? Via Snape's raven? And he hadn't even had the time to add a simple greeting? This really had to be urgent.

Luckily Minerva had copies of the elective lists with her, but the schedules weren't complete, yet and she had to run up to the headmaster's office for the clubs list and copy it as well as the schedules.

"Fly!" ordered Munin about ten minutes later.

The raven had flown down from his shelf again and was pacing the table impatiently.

Minerva shot him an annoyed glare and continued to copy down the sixth years' schedule.

"Fly!" Munin picked up one of the third year letters that were stacked beside her.

"Leave that." Minerva snapped. "Those are the ones I'm supposed to hold back."

Munin cocked his head at her, then flapped over to the stack of still empty envelopes on her other side. He picked one up and shoved it under her nose.

Minerva blinked. Just how intelligent was that bird?

"Yes, yes, thank you." she told him. "It just doesn't help me any until I finish copying the list."

Munin cocked his head again. "Write letter?"

"Yes." Minerva decided. "I have to write the letter first."

The raven seemed to be satisfied with that answer and flapped away to inspect one of the bookshelves. Minerva only hoped that he knew how to behave around books. Madame Pince wouldn't be happy, if she returned to find beak marks or bird droppings on her beloved books.

It took her another fifteen minutes to finish both copies and hand them over to the raven who took off without even waiting for her orders.

"I hope you know where to take it." Minerva called after the bird before returning her attention to the fourth years' letters. Albus absolutely had to wait with his letter until she had finished the third years, didn't he? If she'd known this morning, she'd already be well into the fourth years, maybe even done with them already.

 

"Your schedules are overly complicated." Ralph Donalds declared after only a short glance at the parchments Munin brought back from his trip to Hogwarts. "Your first years have a seventh lesson twice a week and your Potions teacher works six hours on Saturday? Really Severus, I could offer you a better job."

"Even though I teach more classes." Draco added with a smirk.

"Then your students have fewer Potions lessons." Dumbledore stated.

"Three a week, in all seven years." Draco informed him. "I believe Hogwarts students have only two in the first two years."

"But then you'd have all the students in one year at the same time." Dumbledore frowned. "Do you really have so many squibs that you're left with a manageable number?"

"What does the number of squibs have to do with it?" Mike asked confused.

"Well, they wouldn't have Potions, would they?" Dumbledore returned.  
v "Why not?" Draco laughed. "All our students take Potions, of course. There is a maximum of 14 students in one Potions class, six classes a year, two of them squib classes that focus on theory, Potions that don't require a magical brewer and Chemistry, while the other four classes follow the usual curriculum just like the Hogwarts ones do, each at a different difficulty level."

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "Just how many Potions teachers do you have?"

"Two at the moment." Donalds explained. "I'm considering hiring a third, if I can get another Alchemist and bring in the money."

"An Alchemist?" Dumbledore asked. That was a rather ambitious goal considering how rare they were.

"I need someone equally capable of teaching Potions and Chemistry." Donalds explained. "Aaron did teach some squib classes until we got Draco, but he isn't an expert and there has been a notable improvement in our results since we have Draco."

"You have a Potions Master teaching Squibs?"

"As well as the most advanced Potions classes." Draco specified.

Albus did some fast calculations: Six Potions classes a year, two teachers. So each teacher would have three Potions classes a year, times seven, made twenty-one Potions classes, each for thee hours a week. That meant sixty-three teaching hours. West Hogsmeade didn't have any classes on Saturday, so there were only five days to distribute them to. So Draco would have to teach thirteen hours three days a week and twelve on the other two.

"How many hours of classes do you have in a single school day?" Albus asked.

"Six." Donalds answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But then how do you get in that many Potions classes?"

Draco grinned. "Why, three at a time, of course."

"Your History teacher teaches two classes at the same time as well." Mike commented hardly glancing up from the Hogwarts schedules. "We do just the same, of course."

"Our History teacher is a ghost." Albus explained. "He can do that."

"And most of our staff are witches and wizards." Donalds smiled. "It's a simple magical twin charm."

"I believe we should start with the Hogwarts schedules." Mike suggested. "Ours are much more adaptable."

"Alright." Donalds agreed. "How about the Sports and Flying classes, though. Can we get this to work?" "Well, we currently have 504 students." Draco said. "Hogwarts has fourty in an average year, 280 altogether. That's 784 students. If we are no longer limited by the number of school brooms, we can raise the number of students in each sports class to ... lets say sixteen. An even number is easier to split into teams and the teachers will have to be able to keep an eye on the group for safety reasons. That'd put us at forty-nine classes. About half of the students are girls, half boys so we get twenty-four boys classes and twenty-four girls classes with one mixed one."

"We can't mix girls and boys in Sports, Draco." Donalds yelped. "They have to undress in the changing room! And they're practically naked during class."

"We do have two changing rooms." Mike pointed out. "One group would just have to cross the corridor after changing."

"And walk though the other group's changing room!"

"So they'll have to wait until the teacher comes to get them after the other group's done." Sarah suggested practically.

"And they aren't naked." Draco said. "Their clothes are just more revealing than their uniform robes and some of them like to show a lot of skin, but it would be only one class. They have mixed Sports classes in primary school, too."

"Primary school students aren't as developed. There's nothing to see for them, nor do they have that kind of interest, yet." Donalds argued.

"The same goes for our youngest students." Draco stated. "Just pick the 16 smallest first years and they'll be fine."

"They'll be teased." Sarah threw in.

"Children get teased all the time." Severus shrugged it off. "They're old enough to have to know how to deal with it and, if they don't, it's high time they learned."

"The numbers of girls and boys in the other years won't split into groups of sixteen as nicely as the total number of students, though." Dumbledore warned.

"So we mix years." Draco shrugged. "Sports doesn't have a set curriculum that builds on the things learned the year before. The size and strength of the students should be homogenous for certain exercises, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have to be the same age. A tall sixth year might well be taller than some of the seventh years, so putting the smallest students of one year with the tallest of the next lower one might even be an improvement."

"Sports is held at the same time as one of the electives, though, so the choice of electives will influence what students are in a group more than their size." Mike reminded him.

"It still shouldn't be a big problem to put together students of two consecutive years. There will be four groups in each students' year. Only one of them will be mixed, so if each group is paired with a different elective, there should always be two groups during each student's study hours. If one turns out to be too tall, or too small for the mixed group, he can be switched with a student from the other group."

"Actually two of the classes will be mixed, except for the seventh years." Mike corrected. "One with the higher year and one with the lower. In some years that will result in five groups being available, though."

"We can work out the exact lists once we have the schedules." Donalds decided. "First we need to know when we can set the mixed classes at all. What about the Flying, though. There's only one location and a limited number of brooms for that, right?"

"A lot of Hogwarts students have their own brooms." Albus returned. "Only the first years aren't allowed them. Hogwarts has twenty-two school brooms at the moment and you could bring yours along to allow for classes bigger than that."

"That doesn't seem advisable." Severus commented. "Especially the first years who haven't flown before are at risk of colliding and falling off their brooms, if there are to many flyers in the air. The more students in one class, the less Hannah will be able to keep an eye on each individual one. Twenty-two should be the upper limit."

"Well, this would currently only concern the first years." Albus sighed. "Maybe Hannah can train Sybil to assist her and possibly teach classes of her own in a few years."

 

"Sybil?" Severus asked alarmed. "Sybil Trelawney?" "She teaches only ten hours a week and sits holed up in her tower the rest of the time." Dumbledore commented. "Even with additional students from West Hogsmeade she isn't exactly overworked and she has no other particular skills besides her sight that she could teach."

"She also isn't the most reliable." Severus pointed out. "Even Hagrid would be safer. I would at least trust him to react correctly once a student gets hurt."

"Hagrid teaches ten hours on top of being the groundskeeper. He doesn't need an additional job." Albus returned.

"I wasn't suggesting him anyway." Severus grumbled. "How about Victoria or Julian, though?"

Albus hesitated for a moment. Professor Vector was already in charge of the Chess club even, if that didn't necessarily fill up her schedule. The Muggle Studies Professor however had no other offices at all.

"Julian it is." he decided. "He should enjoy it, too."

"So how many Flying classes will we have to fit into the schedule?" Mike asked.

"We're expecting forty first years this year, give or take one or two, as we haven't heard back from them, yet." Albus reported.

"We will have forty-eight for Flying class, as the squibs won't be able to take it." Donalds added.

"Perfect." Draco smiled. "That's eighty-eight students in four groups of twenty-two each."

"Any more students in a future year will create a problem, though." Albus commented.

"Lets wait and see how well your Flying teacher can deal with this year's groups before we make any decisions whether to increase the number of students or add a fifth group." Donalds suggested. "Lets just worry about correlating the schedules now. We'd best put all the electives on the same time even, if we don't combine the classes. That way we can combine students from both schools in all Sports classes."

"Is that really such a good idea?" Albus was a little worried about it. "The children are from very different backgrounds. I think we should keep them separate as much as possible."

"That will only further prejudice and start a rivalry between the schools." Sarah snapped. "They need a chance to get to know each other."

"How do you intend to split forty students into groups of sixteen and by gender anyway?" Mike asked. "They will all be available during different electives, too. It will be easier to distribute them between all the groups."

Albus sighed. "Fine, but how do we guarantee their safety?"

Donalds just looked insulted at that, Draco frowned and Mike rolled his eyes.

"There will be someone in charge of the portkeys at both ends anyway." Severus answered dryly. "If you wish that person can also accompany the students to their classrooms until the teacher arrives."

"And who should that person be?" Mike asked suddenly. "It can hardly be a teacher who's required elsewhere."

"The caretakers." Draco suggested. "They're old friends and will work together well and they both know how to keep unruly students in check."

"I would prefer someone I know at your end." Albus insisted.

"You know David." Draco sighed. "He was four years behind me at Hogwarts. David Smith, Slytherin."

"The boy that kept trailing after Argus?"

"Yes, Caretaker always was his dream job." Severus grumbled. "I suppose that is some type of ambition as well."

Mike had picked up the class lists again. "You have an average of only nine students a year in Muggle Studies?"

"Yes, the subject is rather unpopular, I'm afraid."

"Our average is thirty students." Mike continued. "In two classes of fifteen each. If we combined them, we'd have two classes of twenty and free a teacher for another elective."

"West Hogsmeade's Muggle Studies has a much higher level anyway." Draco commented.

"But Julian won't be required during Flying classes that much for the moment. He'll only be assisting with the first years." Albus said. "What do I do with him over the next years?"

"How good is he at Potions?" Donalds asked.

"Worthless." hissed Severus. "He's a near squib that left Hogwarts after his first year and went to a Muggle school. He taught Philosophy and English to Muggle students for a while, then found he needed a magical education after all. He took evening classes with Professor Flitwick and started to teach Muggle Studies."

"He could teach Philosophy as a club then." Draco suggested. "And maybe take over the Poetry club. Then Professor Dulac could start the French for magical students class she's been wanting to."

"We could even make that an elective." Donalds beamed. "French has been a mandatory subject for our squibs for almost as long as the school exists, but we've never given the other students the chance to learn it and it is quite useful when dealing with foreign wizards."

"So we have French as an additional elective at West Hogsmeade and I'll ask Julian to create a Philosophy and a Poetry club at Hogwarts."

"Our Conjuring teachers also run the Music club which has several different groups and, if we can finance it, would like to add a Choir." Mike continued.

"We could finance and house the Choir, if we get enough members." Dumbledore promised. "Ours died due to lack of interest from the students. We need at least ten singers."

"No problem." said Donalds. "At least twice that many of our Conjuring students said they were interested last year."

"You have about ten students in Ancient Runes, we have eighteen." Mike read out. "That's not so good. Too many students to combine, but each of the teachers works only ten hours and our second Latin teacher is having a baby. We were hoping our Runes teacher could replace her."

"The twin charm would work on Professor Calligra as well, though." Severus commented.

"But the two parts of her, can't move that far apart." Mike explained. "The spell would fail."

"Then we have to move one of the classes to the other school." Draco suggested.

"The Muggle Studies classroom will be empty anyway." Albus stated.

"Then we have Care for Magical Creatures and Arithmancy, both strong classes at both schools." Mike continued. "Combining anything there wouldn't make much sense. Your Divination classes are small enough that adding a few of our students shouldn't cause a problem. The talent is rare after all."

"Professor Circula would be willing to teach Mathematics as an additional elective." Draco stated.

"Draco, I know that Muggle subjects are your pet project and they are indeed very important, especially in the interest of our squibs, but the financing of ten additional teaching hours is rather problematic. Not to forget the additional room required." Donalds started.

"Wait a minute, Ralph." Draco stopped him. "We're moving our Runes classes to Hogwarts. I doubt Math will require more than one classroom, but we have two Runes rooms right now. We could turn one into Math class and use the other for French and we're saving money on all the classes we're combining with Hogwarts."

"What if French requires two classrooms?" Donalds returned.

"Over a quarter of our students already have French as a mandatory subject." Draco stated calmly. "Do you really think that more than a third of the rest will choose it?" It will be popular with the voluntary Muggle Studies students and maybe the Runes students, but I doubt the mass that picks Care for Magical Creatures or Conjuring will go for it and Math will draw the Arithmancy students more."

"It can't hurt to give it a chance." Mike suggested. "We can do a trial run this year. If it really turns out to be a financial problem, we can do without the Basket Weaving club for a while."

"And we can clean out another classroom at Hogwarts, if there really are more applications than expected." Dumbledore stated. "There's a former Divinations classroom on the second floor that I always thought was very nice and the old Conjuring class is quite conveniently located as well."

Billy suppressed a yawn. This was boring!

"Can I take the dog out, Dad?" he asked to get away. "I think he needs to go."

"Of course, Billy." Severus answered distractedly.

"Keep him away from the Harpers' poodle, though." Sarah admonished. "I don't want Regina coming over here complaining again."

"Regina Harper complains all the time." Billy frowned. "No matter what I do. She's just a Bitch."

"No, she owns a bitch." Sarah corrected, but Billy wasn't listening anymore.

"Come on, Dog!" he shouted and they left the flat under lots of happy barking. The adults could hear the noise until they had reached the ground floor.

"You really should put up some silencing charms." Albus commented.

"What for?" Sarah asked him. "Then we wouldn't hear, if that dog runs into any trouble out there."

"And that's not really an if," Severus added. "It's a when."

"Do you realise that your first and second years have five lessons per week less than ours, even though they have a day more of school and a night class?" Mike asked staring at the Hogwarts schedules again.

"Only some years have Saturday classes and never more than two lessons." Albus defended weakly. "Five hours of what?"

"One each of Charms, DADA, Transfigurations and Latin." Mike reported. "You really should reconsider that crazy schedule of yours. A simple charm could save you so much trouble."

"We'd still need a second Potions classroom. Severus commented. "Everything else could be arranged, but none of the other rooms are equipped for Potions."

"Oh, come on! Even we managed to equip six!" Donalds almost snorted. "Get your rich parents to fund it."

"The parents?" Dumbledore asked. "They already pay school money. We can't just demand even more."

"Not demand, Dumbledore." Draco smirked. "Ask for donations in the interest of a better education for their kids. It worked when one of our TVs broke last year."

"A classroom is more expensive than that." Severus stated.

"But the parents of your students can afford it." Mike returned. "If the poor families of West Hogsmeade are willing to give some of their money for the equipment of their children's school, the rich purebloods should be able to do the same. They won't even feel it."

 

Minerva was well into the fifth years' letters by the time the headmaster returned from his 'short visit' in Merlin Park.

"Ah Minerva, making good progress today, I see." he greeted her smiling happily.

Minerva glanced at the three stacks of finished letters on her desk.

"The ones on the left are the third years' letters you told me to hold back."

"Ah yes, we will have to replace the book lists." Albus nodded. "For the Muggle Studies students in the higher years as well, by the way. Which reminds me that I have to owl Julian right away."

"You decided to change the Muggle Studies textbooks while talking to Severus about Billy?" Of course anything was possible with Dumbledore.

"We are combining our Muggle Studies class with West Hogsmeade." Albus stated.

"What!" She must have misheard. Minerva thought of the green dressed children and shuddered.

"Severus agreed to send Billy to Hogwarts, if I agreed to a school partnership." Albus explained. "It means we get to participate in their clubs and electives and they in ours. That allows us to add three more electives, but we also have to pass out new application forms to the third years."

"But Albus, if we don't announce the book lists right now ..."

"We can announce everything except the electives. For them we will have to collect the money from the students once they get here and place a combined order. The West Hogsmeade bookshop will be very happy about the business."

"Classes with the gang kids?"

"Draco did fine among them during his suspension." Albus answered. "In fact he found friends much faster there than he ever did at Hogwarts. And we're not leaving them alone. There'll always be an adult along to supervise them."

"And we get Billy in return?"

"Billy, additional classes and all sorts of scheduling and financing tips. West Hogsmeade is one well organised school."

Minerva cast one last glance at her letters. "Very well, what are the new electives?"

If she set one quill to write the forms and the other the book lists, she could address the new envelopes and finish the third years today. Then she had to rewrite the book lists for the Muggle Studies students in fourth year. Luckily their letters were still unsealed. She hadn't added the elective books to the fifth years' letters, yet and the sixth and seventh years' weren't even started. Yes, it could be done, if she put in a late shift.

 

A/N: Will Billy be okay at Hogwarts? How will the other teachers react? And how will the West Hogsmeade students be received at Hogwarts?

 

In the next chapter: Billy wants a pet and gets sorted and meets his new dormmates.


	4. At Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Good news. It looks like this will have more than five chapters after all. At least I feel the hint of a plot hedgehog in the back of my mind ... Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs fans might spot two names in here.

Chapter 4: At Hogwarts

 

September came much too soon. At first Billy had been excited about going to the mysterious boarding school, but the closer the day came, the less he wanted it to arrive.

He'd have to spend the entire day and even the nights there. What if he didn't like the place? What if the other children didn't like him? What if he wanted his Mummy's advice on something?

The night before he had to go to school he suddenly woke up from a dream about other kids laughing at him for having second hand robes with the realisation that he wouldn't be in the same school as the Rakers. What if Mely forgot about him, if he was never there? What if she decided he wasn't worth accepting, if he'd only be around in the holidays?

The next morning he watched the gang march off to school all proudly wearing their blue caps. If he ever got one at all, he wouldn't even be able to wear it in school.

A few minutes later Jimmy and Mandy, two of his classmates from last year, crossed the park in their new green school robes. They were laughing and talking excitedly.

What if he didn't find any friends at Hogwarts? He knew none of the kids there. What primary schools did future Hogwarts students attend? Certainly not his. What if everybody already knew somebody and he was the only one left out?

"Eat!" Munin called and let himself drop onto Billy's shoulder.

He would most certainly be the only kid in his class without a familiar. He'd begged his father to buy him a raven, but Dad had remained firm.

"You're not old enough to train him." he had insisted.

"But Draco got Hugin when he went to Hogwarts, too." Billy had protested.

"When he went for his fifth year." Severus had reminded him. "Ravens are very difficult pets. An eleven year old just isn't up to keeping one."

"How about an owl, then?"

"Too expensive. We already spent too much on your school books."

"Cat?" Billy had suggested.

"Too expensive as well."

"Toad?"

"Whatever for? Toads are useless. You might as well take the dog to school."

"Can I?"

"No!"

And that had been it. Billy was going to Hogwarts without any friends except for his old teddy Eddy. He'd have to remember to introduce him as Edward to his dorm mates, even though the name had actually come from his first babyish attempts to say teddy.

"Billy!" Sarah reminded him. "Come here and eat your breakfast. You don't want to make Daddy late for the teachers' meeting, do you?"

Down in the park Draco and Uncle Mike were walking past on their way to work.

Billy sighed and trudged over to the table. "I'm not really hungry."

"You have to eat. You'll only get a sandwich or two until the feast and that is after the other students arrive and the sorting ceremony." Sarah told him sternly.

Billy sighed and sat down to nibble half heartedly on a piece of toast. "Do I have to stay at Hogwarts, if I don't like it there?"

"You're not even there, yet." Severus reminded him. "At least give the school a chance, before starting to look for alternatives."

"I bet all the other kids have brand new robes and familiars and pretty eagle feather quills."

"And you have the Potions teacher for a father." said Sarah. "I bet none of the other children have that."

"With my luck one of them probably is the son of the minister of magic." Billy grumbled.

"The minister's children are all already out of school." Severus stated. "Thankfully. They were abysmal at Potions."

"Were they?" Sarah asked absently.

"Well, the youngest boy. The rest were about average."

"I bet they all have new cauldrons, too." Billy frowned.

"That were never even touched by a real Potions Master." Severus continued. "It's all in how you look at it. I still remember how proud Draco was of his ratty old backpack."

"That was Draco, Dad." Billy complained. "Draco doesn't need cool things to be cool. He simply is."

"And so are you." Severus told him.

"I'm not." Billy said drawing a line into his porridge. "I'm just ... just me. I couldn't be like Draco."

"Of course you can." Sarah snorted. "He's your brother. You're a lot like him."

Billy just shrugged and tried to pile the porridge up into a mountain. It flopped off his spoon and sank back in. Too wet.

It wouldn't help to remind his mother that Draco was adopted and Billy wasn't. She'd only say that he was insulting his parents and denying his brother again. Adoption wasn't something people spoke about. Lots of kids in Merlin Park had been adopted by one of their parents and unlike Draco they didn't even have any official papers to prove it.

Well, Billy could always try to fail all his classes. Then Hogwarts would kick him out and he could start again at West Hogsmeade next year.

Half an hour later Severus and Billy were on their way to the castle. It looked huge and imposing to Billy, much bigger than he remembered it. Did he really want to know what was waiting for him inside? His old classmates were probably already laughing and having fun with their new friends at West Hogsmeade.

There was a soft plop a little to their right as a tiny old wizard apparated in.

"Good Morning, Filius." Severus greeted him without even slowing down.

"Morning, Severus." the tiny wizard caught up with them anyway. "An early student?"

"My son." Severus explained. "Billy, this is Professor Flitwick. He teaches Charms."

"Like Uncle Mike?" Billy asked trying to sound friendly. He'd much rather have Uncle Mike as his Charms teacher. That tiny wizard looked weird.

Of course one shouldn't judge people by their looks. Half ogres looked ugly, too and were usually very reliable people, good to be friends with. And one of his best friends in Merlin Park was part goblin. Billy attempted a smile.

"Ah, first year?" Flitwick asked, though he probably had to know. "Are you excited to start Hogwarts?"

Billy looked up at the huge castle once again. "I'm not sure." he admitted.

"He's a little nervous." Severus translated.

"That's only natural." Flitwick nodded. "But there's no need for it. Just think of all your friends that will be arriving soon."

"I don't know any Hogwarts kids." Billy said with a slight frown. "All my friends are going to West Hogsmeade."

That surprised Flitwick so much he didn't know what to answer.

"A lot of the other first years haven't met any of their classmates, yet, either." Severus volunteered.

"That's right." Flitwick gladly grabbed for the straw. "Most of the Muggle borns haven't even seen magic at all before and some of the others are home schooled until they reach Hogwarts age. They'll probably be glad to meet someone who already knows his way around."

"I've never been inside the castle before either." Billy complained.

"But you know wizarding culture." Flitwick insisted. "Just look for a nice Muggle born that looks a little lost. I'm sure he'll love to be your first friend."

They had reached the castle by now and for a moment Billy was distracted from his worries by all the pictures and other decorations, but there wasn't any time to look. His father and Professor Flitwick kept walking right on to the teachers' lounge. At least Billy assumed that was what the room was, because that's where Dad had said the teachers' meetings were usually held.

The room was full of adults that stared at him in surprise as he entered. Billy pressed himself tightly against his father who put his arm around him protectively and sneered at the curious masses.

At least Uncle Albus was here, too, and greeted him happily and the Minerva woman even smiled a little, though Billy still didn't like her. Draco had told him that she was very strict and taught Transfigurations, the hardest subject of all.

When his father sat down Billy pressed himself tightly against his chair and Severus finally pulled him onto his lap.

Somebody protested the presence of a child in a staff meeting, but Uncle Albus said they weren't going to talk about anything Billy couldn't know.

Then he cast a glance through the room and his eyes fell on an empty chair.

"Are we missing anybody?" he asked. "I was sure we had as many chairs as teachers."

"Sybil." the Minerva woman stated as if the word left a bad taste in her mouth. "Did somebody think to remind her today is the first day of term?"

Uncle Albus sighed and stepped towards the floo. "Normally I'd just leave her, but this concerns her as well." He threw a pinch of powder into the flames. "Sybil? We're waiting for you."

"Of course you are." a woman's voice answered, then hesitated for a moment before asking: "Why?"

"Because the staff meeting started five minutes ago." the headmaster stated calmly. "Just check your crystal ball and I'm sure you'll see all of us sitting here in the staff room waiting for our dear Sybil."

"I'm in the middle of a really complicated reading, Albus." the voice announced. "Can't you do without me this time?"

"I'm afraid not. You are one of the main reasons for this meeting, after all." Dumbledore answered patiently. "It's about the third years' electives."

"And I got up early for that?" yawned a fat wizard who was sitting on a sofa in the back of the room.

"Yes Hermes, but I think you will want to know this as well." Albus said and started searching through his pockets.

"If you're looking for the new schedules, I put them on the desk, Albus." Minerva hinted. "Thank you, but I'm just checking whether I still have Harald's owl address. I have a feeling I might have to call him soon." Dumbledore explained with another glance at the man called Hermes.

Despite the many little scraps of note-parchment in his pockets Dumbledore found the address before the door opened and Sybil Trelawney walked in.

Billy blinked. He had seen all sorts of strange creatures in his life, but never anything like that.

"Dad?" he whispered. "Dad, what kind of creature is that?"

"What creature?" Severus asked a little annoyed. "Hagrid is a half giant, of course. You've seen them before."

"Not him," Billy shook his head and nodded towards Trelawney. "Her."

Severus snorted drawing the attention of the whole room. "That, Billy, is one of the most annoying creatures there are, a diviner. As far as I know no agreement on the question whether they are magical or non magical creatures has been reached so far."

"The evidence leans towards non-magical at least as far as this particular specimen is concerned." the Minerva woman added.

"Mark the day on the calendar, Severus and Minerva have agreed on something without any insults, yelling or bribery." a tall, thin witch in a pink robe commented.

"Please, Callisto, I really have something important to announce." Uncle Albus sounded almost like Billy's primary school teacher had. "Severus, Minerva, please don't tease Sybil. Sybil, stop sulking, that encourages them."

"They have no respect for the high art of Divination." the Sybil creature declared.

Billy still didn't know what kind of mixture she was. Maybe a little mermaid and two parts of something else?

"Quite so, Sybil." Albus nodded. "Now, the reason I have called all of you here is that there will be some organisational changes this year due to the fact that we have a new partner school. Students from West Hogsmeade will portkey here for Flying lessons and to participate in some of our clubs and electives, while our students will portkey to their school for Sports and other classes."

There was some mumbling and protests. Apparently Billy's new teachers thought his friends were dangerous.

"Muggle Studies will be taught only at West Hogsmeade from now on, as will Conjuring, Mathematics and French. In return Ancient Runes and Divination will be taught only at Hogwarts for both schools." Dumbledore continued. "I want to remind the heads of house, that students having a class at the other school right before lunch will be expected to eat there. Students eating in West Hogsmeade are expected to pay for their food, therefore they will need to be given so called lunch money. As the school money for Hogwarts already includes the meals the heads of house will be responsible for handing out the lunch money."

The Sybil creature protested against having West Hogsmeade students in her classes. Professor Flitwick had questions about the school and a woman called Professor Sprout wanted to know exactly how much lunch money the students would need and where the West Hogsmeade students would sit during the meals.

"We have to make sure that they mingle with our students so they won't feel left out." she insisted.

Billy almost yawned. Teachers' meetings were dead boring. He wondered why they actually forbade students to attend. Any student who walked in here would leave voluntarily after a few minutes and never return.

Around two in the afternoon sandwiches were served and then the meeting finally broke up. Professor Sprout caught Severus and Billy at the door and asked almost the same questions Professor Flitwick had. She was probably just trying to be nice, but Billy really didn't want to talk about his feelings about Hogwarts.

After getting rid of her Severus led Billy down into the dungeons and showed him his office and lab.

"I have to unpack the books and ingredients I brought from home." he explained, but you can brew some pepper up potion for the hospital wing, if you're bored. Just remember to use peppermint instead of the lemon leaves."

"Can't I brew something interesting instead?" Billy frowned a little.

"I don't have time to supervise you right now." Severus shook his head.

Working in the big, well equipped Hogwarts lab turned out to be fun anyway, though. While his cauldron bubbled happily Billy explored the shelves trying to name all the ingredients. He was familiar with all sorts of ingredients most wizards never saw, but in here there were things he'd never even heard of. Rare, perhaps even restricted ingredients, samples of potions ...

Billy was quite disappointed when they had to leave for the feast and his sorting.

The great hall was already filling up with black dressed students when they arrived, but none of them appeared to be first years, so Billy just followed after his father who strode right to the head table where the teachers he'd already seen in the morning were gathered.

The Minerva woman was discussing something with uncle Albus, but over all the noise from the students it was impossible to overhear. In fact the only words Billy could clearly discern in the chaos were names that the students yelled out at the sight of their friends.

"The second train just arrived at the station when I passed the second floor landing." old Mr. Filch reported as he arrived. "I assume Hagrid has them halfway across the lake by now."

"Excellent." Uncle Albus beamed. "Then the carriages should all be on their way as well."

The noise had begun to settle down a bit, but a few minutes later a new wave of students rushed in and it flared up again.

"That's the students from Scotland and Ireland coming in now." Severus explained to the boy. "The first batch came with the Southern train that starts from London. A small group from Hogsmeade should have arrived on foot even before then."

When the last trickle of new arrivals finally stopped Uncle Albus nodded towards the Minerva woman and she got up and slipped silently out of the hall. Most of the students were sitting now, though they were still talking animatedly.

A few more minutes passed, or did it just seem that long to Billy? Then the doors behind the head table suddenly swung open and the Minerva women led in another group of students.

Severus gently nudged Billy towards them and he tried to slip in at the end of the line unnoticed.

He didn't succeed entirely, though. The two students in front of him turned around and stared at him. Billy shrugged and attempted a smile, but their only reaction was to turn away again.

Being small and in the back of the group Billy was unable to see the sorting hat and its song didn't sound all that impressive to him either. It had sorted witches and wizards for over a thousand years? So what? In West Hogsmeade first years were distributed into four groups according to their grades and it worked just as well. Who needed a magical hat anyway?

"Now, when I call your name, just sit on the stool and put on the hat and you will be sorted." the Minerva woman announced. "As soon as the hat makes its choice you will get up quietly, pass the hat on to the next student and then walk over to your new house. No yelling out in triumph, no big scenes and no running. Lets start: Anterhill, Pankratius!"

Billy tried to get a peek at Pankratius Anterhill, but all he could see were the heads of other first years and black robes.

"Slytherin!" the hat announced and Billy heard the applause from the Slytherin table, even though he couldn't see them.

"Atlers, Gabriella!"

"Ravenclaw!" It sounded seconds later and again there was applause.

"Bartering, Gangolf!"

Nervous laughter flittered through the group of first years and Billy was glad that his name wasn't Gangolf Bartering. The poor boy!

"Slytherin!"

At least he'd gotten into a good house.

"Berring, Hermelindis!"

Herme what? Another poor kid.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Bonk, Connor!"

This one took very long to sort. Finally the hat settled on "Ravenclaw!" however.

"Carmey, Wendy!" took even longer than Connor. After over a minute the hat finally said: "Gryffindor." without much conviction.

"Domally, Arnika" and "Donelly, Salvatore" became Ravenclaws, "Eagle, Melitta" a Hufflepuff and "Forbes, Charles" the second Gryffindor.

Billy didn't really care about that, though. He couldn't see any of it and the only thing he wanted to know was what house he would be put in. Then he could try to memorise his housemates' names. Remembering the entire first year seemed an impossible task, though.

He wondered whether this was any more interesting, if one could see it. Maybe he should try jumping to see over the students in front of him? But that was probably very improper behaviour.

Draco had warned him that a lot of things that seemed absolutely natural at West Hogsmeade were considered impossible at Hogwarts where the students were expected to have excellent manners.

Meanwhile it was "Laxter, Dinah"'s turn.

"Slytherin!"

And Slythern right again for "Lennox, Rupert!"

"Montrey, Randolph!" caused some mumbling and surprised looks when he was sorted into Ravenclaw. Billy had no idea what that was all about and drifted off again until an impossibly long name caught his attention.

"Patter-Hendrics, Sophie-Marleen!"

"I really hope that one's okay with being called Sophie." a small red haired girl with freckles whispered to her blonde friend somewhere to Billy's right when the hat announced "Gryffindor!"

The group of students was thinning out now and Billy occasionally caught a glimpse of a student on the way up to the hat. How much longer until they finally reached the Ss?

They were getting close now. Patter-Hendrics was followed by Porter, Quentin, Rassle and Rouen and then finally:

"Sanger, Oliver!"

The boy took very long to sort and Billy started to fidget. He was probably next.

"Gryffindor!" the hat yelled out after what seemed like an eternity.

"Sharpe, Mary-Anne!" the Minerva woman announced instead of the expected "Snape".

Billy could see the girl walk confidently up to the stool. She smiled at them as she placed the hat on her head.

"Slytherin!" That had been fast.

Billy's brain was still a second behind events when the Minerva woman announced "Snape, Billy" and he completely forgot to fidget.

"Snape? Did she really say Snape?" Whispers flew through the hall. Several of the other first years openly stared at Billy as he squeezed through to the front.

More whispering. Billy knew they were comparing him to his father and unlike Draco he looked a lot like their Dad.

He stumbled up to the stool hoping that he didn't look as clumsy as he felt. The hat smelled dusty and old as it slipped over his head.

'What do you know, a Snape.' a weird voice in his head greeted him. 'It's been a while since I sorted one of those. And what's that? I don't even know your mother? Difficult, difficult.'

'Mum went to West Hogsmeade.' Billy thought. 'As did all my friends. I wish I'd gone with them.'

'Ah, not a Gryffindor, are you?' the hat sounded amused. 'Not that the Snapes ever were. You care a lot about friendship. Hufflepuff might suit that need. Not a traditional Snape house either, though.'

'Hufflepuff would be fine, I guess.' Billy thought. With his Potions knowledge nobody could mistake him for stupid, could they?'

'So, you've already studied ahead.' the hat commented. 'And you're not restricting yourself to considering only one option. Your father had some Ravenclaw tendencies as well.'

'Isn't Ravenclaw a little stuffy?' Billy wondered. 'I like to play outside much more than reading. I want to be on the Soccer team and maybe try out for the Quidditch team as well next year.'

'You'd like to play on both teams?' the hat almost seemed to laugh. "Slytherin!"

Billy blinked a few times. His father's house? Was that even permitted?

He slowly pulled off the hat and blinked a few more times against the bright candle light as the Minerva woman read out: "Sorrel, Aterus!".

A tall boy with long dark hair held out his hand and smiled at Billy and he obediently handed over the hat. What was he supposed to do now? Oh right, sit down at the Slytherin table!

He started down the hall.

"Slytherin!" the hat's voice sounded behind him.

What was the boy's name again? Atrus? No, Aterus. Billy hoped they'd get along.

"Tonks, Caesareus!" was on the stool now and Billy had finally reached the end of the Slytherin table where several seats had been left for the first years.

He looked around at the kids already sitting there, but didn't recognise any of the faces that were staring at him wide eyed. He decided to sit next to a boy.

"Hi, I'm Billy." he introduced himself.

"Yeah, Snape, Billy." the brown haired girl across from him said. "We heard."

"Are you related to Professor Snape in some way?" a blond boy to his right asked.

Billy nodded. "Sure, he's my Dad." Then he smiled. He should get a little more personal, if he wanted to make friends with these children. "I didn't expect the hat to sort me into his house, though. I thought there'd be rules against that, but then my brother was a Slytherin, too."

Aterus quietly slipped into the chair beside Billy, but made no move to introduce himself. Was he shy?

The others were all staring at Billy not saying anything.

"Uberey, Cait!" rang out from the front.

The Slytherins continued to stare at each other.

"Ravenclaw!"

"Vaxhall, Alexander!"

"So, who are you all?" Billy asked. "I heard your names, but I was standing too far in the back and couldn't see you be sorted, so I don't know what faces to match them to."

More staring.

"Warthay, Elenor!"

"Gryffindor!"

"I'm of the Nocturne house." the brown haired girl responded first apparently expecting Billy to know who the Nocturnes were. "Colleen Nocturne."

"Gangolf Bartering." the blond boy introduced himself with a sneer.

The older Slytherins suddenly broke into applause. Apparently another first year had been sorted into Slytherin. Billy looked up to see a tiny girl with dark brown hair make her way down towards them.

"Pankratius Anterhill." Gangolf's neighbour announced. "Usually called either Pank or Ant." He wrinkled his nose at the later name.

"My fiends call me Slipper." Billy admitted. "Because I'm so small and thin I can slip through anywhere, they say." He'd been hoping to earn himself a better nickname when he was accepted into the gang.

"Dinah Laxter." the girl beside Colleen spoke up for the first time. "My whole family was in Hufflepuff."

Colleen pushed her chair away from her with a frown. "Hufflepuffs? Ewww."

"I'm Anny." the girl on her other side started. "Mary-Anne, actually, but nobody ever calls me that."

"I hope your parents aren't Hufflpuff's as well." Colleen stated still frowning.

"No, my father's a plumber and Mum works in a factory."

Colleen hastily shifted back towards Dinah. "A Mudblood, yuck."

Dinah however held her hand out to Anny. "Thanks. I hope we're going to be great friends."

Billy regarded Colleen a little thoughtfully. "Is there anyone that you don't find icky at all?"

"You mean, you don't mind being surrounded by Mudbloods and Hufflepuffs?"

"I almost became a Hufflepuff." Billy informed her. "The hat said one could make lots of friends there."

Colleen looked shocked and turned towards the last two girls, one of whom had only just arrived. "Tell me you at least are purebloods, please."

The new one nodded at her. "Yes, I think I am. I'd have to ask my Dad, though."

"Name?" Colleen demanded.

"Tullia." she held out her hand.

"Last name, stupid." Colleen did not touch the offered hand.

"Oh,! Waterwall." the girl blushed. "Tullia Waterwall."

Colleen groaned.

"What now?" Pank asked warily.

"The Waterwalls are part mermaid." Aterus supplied. "Nocturne probably finds that ... How did you put it? Icky. I'm Aterus Sorrel, by the way. Pureblood, if it helps." He nodded towards Colleen.

"Danny Rassle." the last girl informed Colleen with a nasty sneer. "Halfblood."

"And my name's Rupert Lennox. Nothing special."

"What do you mean nothing special?" Pank asked with a grin.

"No recent Muggle ancestors, no non human ancestors, no old pureblood family, just your common everyday wizard." Rupert grinned back.

Billy smiled. He was going to like Rupert. He could already see that. Pank seemed nice as well and Aterus was getting more relaxed now. He was probably just nervous. Only Gangolf still hadn't said much besides his name.

Billy was just about to address him when Aterus hushed them.

"The headmaster's about to speak."

Indeed the sorting was over and Uncle Albus had gotten up to address the crowd. The few words he said weren't really worth the interruption of their introduction in Billy's opinion, but the food certainly was.

Billy had never seen that many delicious things in one room before. It did seem like a waste to offer this much, though. There was no way the students could eat it all.

"What are they going to do with all the leftovers?" he wondered between two bites.

"Who cares?" shrugged Colleen.

"Probably give them to the house elves and other servants." Aterus commented.

"That's right. I completely forgot about them. Of course they need to eat, too." Billy nodded relieved. The food wasn't wasted after all. "That'll feed a lot of elves, though."

"Well, there must be a lot of them with so many people in the castle." Dinah said. "And this is a special feast. They'll probably give some of the food to the poor and reuse the rest in tomorrow's soup."

"My Mum always makes stew when she has lots of leftovers." Anny said.

"Yes, mine too." Billy confirmed. "Bet we'll get stew tomorrow."

"I do hope you're joking." Collen frowned again. "I refuse to eat leftovers."

Billy stared at her. "Don't you realise how much money all this food must cost?"

"Who cares about money?" Colleen asked. "This is supposed to be a noble school. I expect them to serve us accordingly."

"It's still financed only through our school money." Aterus told her. "I think Billy is right. This is a lot more food than a single family eats at home and they need to feed the entire school everyday. That has to cost a large part of the school money and then they also need to pay the staff and equipment. They wouldn't want to throw anything away."

"I won't eat stew." Colleen insisted once again.

"Then don't." said Dinah. "Go hungry, if you're too good to eat. Why should we care?"

"Common brutes." Colleen hissed. "But then what should one expect from half-breeds, Hufflepuffs and Mudbloods."

"You wouldn't have lasted a day at my old school, you know." Billy told her. "The half ogres would have beaten you to a pulp. ... Unless the goblins would have got at you first, of course."

"You went to a real primary school?" Aterus asked excitedly. "I just had a tutor who came to our house every second day. My mother didn't want me to be taught with other kids."

"Why not?" Tullia asked. "Mine says it's very important that children spend lots of time with other children their age. She called it socialation, or something like that."

"Socialisation." Dinah agreed. "It means to learn how to act among other people. How to make friends and realise when somebody needs your help."

"Yes, that." Tullia nodded happily. "What has your mother got against that?"

"She said other kids would give me the measles and things like that." Aterus shrugged helplessly. "I had whooping cough as a baby. I think that scared her."

"It's dangerous." Billy agreed. "Matt, that's a friend of my big brother, had a sister who died of whooping cough. Mum did everything she could, but she was just too small and got weaker and weaker until she couldn't take her potions anymore and died."

"Your mother's a healer?" Danny asked. "How exciting!"

"No, no, she's an Alchemist just like Dad and Draco." Billy shook his head. "But she brews medical potions for the Hogsmeade hospital so a lot of neighbours turn to us when they're sick."

"Those potions are magical medicine?" Anny asked.

"Yes, or sometimes even Muggle medicines made by wizards." Billy explained. "We often tend to say Potions when something's really Chemistry. Both arts evolved from Alchemy, when the two worlds split apart. There are illnesses that can only be cured by one of them and others that require a combination."

"Did your mother teach you all that?" Pank sounded deeply impressed.

"My mother, Dad and Draco. We're a family of alchemists."

"Who's that Draco you talk about all the time?" Rupert pushed away his plate.

"Oh, he's my big brother." Billy explained.

"Um ... Gangolf, what are you doing?" Aterus stared at the boy who was staring into his empty plate.

"Just checking my hair." Gangolf replied absently.

"On your plate?" Pank asked sounding slightly doubtful.

"Of course." Gangolf returned while smoothing down a lock of hair.

"Oh .. oh ... okay. Of course." Pank stuttered looking towards Billy and Rupert for help.

"Oh, I put a mirror charm on it, stupid." Gangolf sighed. "Haven't you ever seen someone use a plate for a mirror?"

"To be honest, no." stated Pank.

Gangolf looked from one first year to the next hopefully, but they all appeared equally baffled.

"Well, my mother sometimes does when she's in a real hurry to get away after a meal." Colleen remarked. "But I've never seen a wizard do so. Or a boy."

"Then you only know sloppy wizards." Gangolf sneered. "Proper looks are extremely important, especially, if you have hair like mine. It would simply be a waste of my good looks not to take perfect care of them."

"Whatever has he eaten?" Rupert asked looking a little spooked.

"Just a little of the salad." Dinah reported. "I really don't know how he can think of his hair with an empty stomach."

"Well, in that case I'm not touching the salad." Rupert decided. "Who knows what's in there."

"I had some salad as well and I feel fine." Tullia said between two forkfuls of baked fish.

"But what if that's just because the magic doesn't work on mermaids?" Danny suggested. "Better not take the risk."

"Nonsense." Tullia snorted. "I'm only one quarter mermaid. How could that be enough to protect me?"

"You never know." Rupert declared and covered the salad bowl with his empty plate before anyone else could accidentally try it.

After dinner Uncle Albus held some big speech, but Billy felt much too tired to listen to him by now. It had been a long and exciting day and he was glad when one of the prefects finally led them to their common room and he could fall into bed. He didn't even take the time to unpack first.

 

A/N: So who will become Billy's best friend at Hogwarts? Who will he get along with? And who will be the ring leader in this little pack of snakes?

 

In the next chapter: Sevi inspects his new students, the Slytherins go to their first classes and the Hogwarts students find out that they have classes in West Hogsmeade.


	5. New Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - This is definitely getting longer than planned. I was going to put the entire first day of classes into his chapter, but Sevi kept insisting he needed more time with his first years (He still thinks I gave him too little. I suspect the whole chapter wouldn't have satisfied him.) and Colleen took up more room than expected as well. Well, at least you get a look inside her head.

Chapter 5: New Friends

 

The sound of a door slamming shut woke Billy the next morning. Feet raced around outside, voices called out. Had he overslept?

But his dorm mates were only just beginning to stir as well.

After a little exploration Rupert discovered the bathroom next doors to their dorm and Pank dragged Gangolf out of bed.

"Just a little longer." the blond boy pleaded, but Pank didn't give in.

That turned out to be lucky as Gangolf took longest to get ready for the day.

"Are you still not dressed?" Pank demanded of the open bathroom door about half an hour later when they were about to go to breakfast. "What are you doing?"

"Applying my beauty cream." came the annoyed answer. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up. I don't eat much for breakfast anyway."

"Somehow I don't think it had anything to do with the salad, Rupert." Pank decided as he led the group down into the common room.

"Do you remember the way to the great hall?" Billy asked Aterus. "I think I'd get lost."

Aterus shrugged. "We just have to follow everybody else. Where else would they be going right now?"

"I think I remember the way." Rupert said softly. "We have to turn left in the corridor, then take the second corridor on the right until we reach the stairs. Then we go up and ... um ... I'll remember when I see it."

Rupert didn't have to prove his orientation skills, though. The prefect from the day before had apparently been waiting for them to show them the way. She particularly pointed out the location of the entrance once again.

"It's hard to see from the outside, so you have to remember exactly where it is." she warned them.

The girls were already sitting at the end of the Slytherin table when they arrived. Well, four of them, that was.

"Where's Colleen?" Billy asked surprised.

"Still in bed as far as we know." Danny shrugged. "Which is more than I care to know. It could be so nice in our dorm, if it weren't for Miss Pureblood."

"Looks like you managed to lose Mirrorboy as well." Tullia pointed out.

"Oh, Gangolf said to go ahead." Rupert reported. "He wanted some quality time with his beauty cream and hairspray."

"Well, at least he doesn't find you icky." Anny sighed. "Just what did I ever do to Nocturne?"

"Nothing." Dinah assured her. "Some people just are that way. When I was still a baby there even was a war between them and us, but you'd have to ask Billy's father about that."

"Billy's father?" Anny asked wide eyed.

"Yes, our head of house, Professor Snape." Dinah nodded eagerly. "He was there in the last battle. Mum says it must have been terrible. Lots of people got killed, many of them innocent Muggles who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Nocturne's parents were probably right there killing Muggles and blowing up houses, too." Danny added. "There are always a few who get away and then years later the evil returns through them. Beware of Nocturne, Anny. Nothing good will come from that one."

"I don't know." Dinah hesitated. "My Dad says you always have to give people the benefit of the doubt. She hasn't really done anything evil, yet."

"You heard her, Dinah." Danny reminded her. "Eww, a Hufflepuff, she said about you. And eww, a Muggle born and quarter mermaids are icky. The Nocturnes always have been dark and Colleen is no exception. Your Dad's Hufflepuff kindness won't help there."

"Hey look, there's Snape!" Rupert pointed towards the head table. "Looks like he's coming over here."

"Dad!" Billy called out and waved and indeed his father came over to sit with them.

"Morning Billy." he even smiled at the first years. "How are you settling in? Shouldn't there be two more of you?"

"Gangolf's on his way." Billy promised. "He almost overslept."

"Well, I hope he gets here soon, because I want to get to know you a little better and he probably wants to as well." Severus said. "Under the circumstances, I'd best start handing out the schedules instead."

In fact some older students were already standing around them looking at Severus expectantly. Severus pulled a pack of parchments out of his pocket and separated it into seven stacks.

"Okay, here are the third years, Conny." he said to the smallest of the girls waiting around him. "Each of them has a name on it, so don't get them confused. Due to the elective subjects each of you has a different schedule now. Manty, the seventh years. Try not to lose any this time."

The boy called Manty blushed and the other older students laughed.

"Nancy, fifth year. Laura and Ines second." Severus continued. "There are a few differences between them this year as well, because of the new Sports classes, but if you inform me in time you can switch, if you don't like the group you're in. Andrew, sixth year. If you see any fourth years send them over."

He kept the first years' schedules, though.

"Hey, what's that?" a loud voice rang over from the Ravenclaw table. "What does WH next to a subject mean?"

"It means, Mr. Lourdes, that your class is held at West Hogsmeade Wizarding School. You will take a portkey from the caretaker's office to get there." Professor Flitwick squeaked just loud enough to be heard over the voices of the students.

"West Hogsmeade!" a girl's voice shrieked and angry mumbling rose all around the hall. "You can't expect us to take classes in that ... that filthy Squib school!"

Severus stood up so forcefully that his chair clattered loudly to the floor. Was that intentional? It was almost too loud not to have been bolstered with a slight enhancement charm.

"Miss Humperding." Severus hissed in his most dangerous voice. It wasn't a shout but carried well enough through the hall to get everyone's attention and silence them instantly. "I assure you that West Hogsmeade is an excellent school, not just for Squibs, but also for everybody who doesn't want or can't afford to attend boarding school. Its Muggle Studies classes have a much higher standard that Hogwarts' own ever reached and they also offer several classes Hogwarts doesn't have. It is very kind of headmaster Donalds to offer us the chance to participate in those classes. West Hogsmeade could very well have continued without the partnership with Hogwarts. It was our wish to offer you a better quality of education that caused this partnership and I expect you to be grateful to both Headmaster Dumbledore and West Hogsmeade and its staff."

Complete silence reigned in the hall after Professor Snape had summoned his chair and sat back down. Gangolf, who had finally arrived during the speech blinked up at him shyly and even Billy was a little intimidated.

"So where were we?" Severus smiled at the first years. "Ah yes, I was going to hand out your schedules. You are Gangolf Bartering, I assume?"

Gangolf nodded a little nervously.

"Your dorm mates told me you almost overslept." Severus continued kindly. "Did you have trouble getting to sleep?"

"No, Sir." Gangolf blushed. "I'm just not used to getting up so early."

"I see." Severus nodded. "Where were you taught until now?"

"At my uncle's. He had already hired a tutor for my cousins, so my parents didn't see any reason to hire one of their own."

"A private tutor together with your cousins." Severus repeated. "Are they the same age as you?"

"No, they're younger. One is ten and the other eight."

"Did you take a test to see how you compared with other students your age?" Severus continued.

"No, Sir. Is that necessary?"

"No, just advisable. Especially if you've been studying with mostly younger classmates, you might be a little behind." Severus explained. "Please inform me if you have any problems. He checked a sheet of parchment that had suddenly appeared in his hand. "Your parents work at the ministry?"

"Yes, Mother is a secretary and Dad's in the ministry library. He catalogues law texts." Gangolf confirmed.

Severus nodded again. "Any problems, or something else you think I should know about?"

Gangolf shook his head and Severus handed him his schedule and turned to the next child in line. "And what's your name?"

"I'm Tullia. Tullia Waterwall." Tullia added hastily remembering Colleen's reaction to her last introduction. "And I went to North Scotland Magical Primary School."

"Excellent." Severus told her. "That is a very good school, so I don't think we'll have to worry abut you being behind in anything, Tullia. What do your parents do?"

"Mum studies water plants and Dad is a translator for Mermish."

"Cool!" Danny exclaimed. "Do you know any Mermish words yourself?"

"Of course." Tullia seemed to think that was obvious. "We speak as much Mermish as English at home."

"There is a colony of Merpeople in the lake." Severus remarked. "If you'd like to meet them. I'm sure they'll love to hear about their relatives at your home."

Tullia nodded eagerly and Severus turned his attention to Danny.

"Danny Rassle. I went to a Muggle primary school, but I didn't really get on with the Muggle kids." she told him. "I kept accidentally making things fly at them whenever I got angry. Mum tried to teach me how to control my levitation spells, but it never quite worked and ... well have you ever tried to explain to a Muggle that you don't have control over your throwing things at him?"

"That should stop now that you have your own wand." Severus assured her. "If you continue to have any problems with unintentional magic, please inform me immediately, though. As your powers grow that could become dangerous."

Danny suddenly looked scared. "Mum said that it stops when you learn how to use a wand."

"Normally yes." Severus confirmed. "There have been some cases where additional training in wandless magic was required, though. That is extremely rare, however, as very strong magic is required for wandless spells. Usually a child your age doesn't have that much power, yet. If you do continue to have that problem it is a sign of considerable talent, Danny, not something to be afraid of. Now, how about your parents. Your father is a Muggle?"

"He's a taxi driver." Danny nodded. "That's similar to the knight bus, but he usually transports only one person at a time. Mum works in the Muggle relations office at the ministry, which was really lucky after I levitated my Math book into my teacher's face."

The children all snickered at that and Danny beamed with pride at her heroic accident.

Severus handed her her schedule and turned to Dinah.

"Dinah Laxter. My Daddy's a healer and Mum used to be a teacher, but she quit working when I was born. She taught me herself, though, along with the kids of several of our friends." Dinah reported. "They're all in Hufflepuff now." She glanced over to the Hufflepuff table where the first years were sitting next to older students talking happily.

"Would you have preferred to be a Hufflepuff as well?" Severus asked cautiously. If Dinah didn't accept her house that might cause serious problems.

"Well," Dinah hesitated for a moment. "It never occurred to me that I might not be, but I guess it must be for the best. I mean, I don't know my new classmates as well as I would have in Hufflepuff, but then Mum always said it was important to make lots of new friends when I got here and I really like Anny and Danny and Tullia already."

"Any idea why the hat chose Slytherin for you?"

Dinah blushed and stared down at her plate. "Because I wanted to be different. It said I'd get the chance to walk my own path here."

"The hat would not have done that, if it thought there were anything wrong with your wish, Dinah." Severus tried to encourage her. "You have been taught to think in the Hufflepuff style where the group always comes first, but you are a Slytherin now. Slytherins are loyal to their friends as well, but we are individuals first. Each Slytherin makes his or her own way. Your friends will support you where they can, but you choose the direction without them. A Slytherin must be strong enough to walk her path all alone and not expect her friends to always be there."

"But isn't that too selfish?" Dinah asked a little shyly.

"Slytherins are selfish, Dinah." Severus smiled. "It's what makes us great. And in our own way we have done more for the good of everybody than the Hufflepuffs."

"And more for the bad." Pank remarked.

Severus nodded at him. "Slytherins can go either way. That is the downside of our freedom in choosing our path. Nobody will stop us from choosing wrong. We alone are responsible for the consequences our choices. You will have to learn how to choose wisely and to have the maturity to turn back, if you find that you have chosen wrong, no matter how hard that may be."

Dinah looked from Pank to Severus apparently not understanding what he meant.

"Don't worry, it will become clear when you get to the point where you need it." Severus promised, though he knew that wasn't always the case. Too often his students were tempted by the dark arts much too soon, but Hufflepuff raised Dinah probably wasn't at risk of that. Her family's morals would provide a certain guideline until she grew mature enough to develop her own.

"You're Anny, then?" he asked the last girl in the group. He was still missing Mary-Anne Sharpe and Colleen Nocturne, but Dinah had mentioned only Anny, Danny and Tullia and he saw no reason she'd leave out the very girl she'd been chatting happily with when he'd arrived.

It made him worry about Colleen, though. Anny and Dinah seemed to have hit it off right away and Danny and Tullia seemed to like each other as well. The boys were still acting like a group rather than pairing off, but what about the fifth girl?

Most likely one of the boys would find himself alone once they started classes and had to sit in pairs and choose the leftover girl for his partner, but such friendships often turned out unstable later on. It would be easier, if they had something in common.

"I went to a Muggle primary school in Leeds." Anny confirmed his suspicions. "Dad is a plumber. That's a Muggle who ... um."

"Repairs boilers and pipes and such." Billy helped her out. "We do occasionally need plumbing in our houses as well."

"Oh, good!" Anny exclaimed. "It's so hard to explain these things when I never know how they are done here. Mum works in a factory. They make all sorts of plastic parts."

"Plastic parts?" Aterus asked. "What's that?"

"A substance that is produced via chemistry and can be formed into every shape you want." Severus explained. "It is lighter than metal and more formable than wood and can be produced with all sorts of different characteristics which Muggles find very practical. A lot of Muggle objects are made of plastic or have parts made of plastic."

"So your mother is a Muggle potion brewer?" Aterus asked Anny.

"Oh no, Mum just sits at a big machine and moves levers. She has no idea how it all really works." Anny shook her head.

"It's more like using potions than brewing them, I suppose." Severus mused. "The user knows what the potion does and how to apply it, but not how it is brewed, or why it has that effect."

"It's very boring work, actually." Anny said. "Mum only does it for the money."

"Next then." Severus decided and nodded towards Pank.

"I'm Pank Anterhill, home schooled. My father ... Well, to be honest he doesn't do much of anything." Pank looked a little embarrassed. "He usually just manages the estate."

"Huh?" was the immediate reaction from both Dinah and Anny.

"Lord Anterhill owns a considerable amount of land." Severus explained. "He also holds shares in the Daily Prophet and several other important wizaring businesses. Occasionally he lends money to people wanting to start a new business as well."

"Oh." made Anny.

"And what does that mean?" asked Dinah.

"It means he's rich." Danny translated. "So rich that he doesn't have to work."

"You are his oldest son?" Severus asked Pank.

"His only son." Pank confirmed. "I have two younger sisters, though."

"Anybody looking for a rich heir to marry?" Danny joked.

"Colleen might, if Lords aren't icky." Tullia wrinkled her nose.

"I'd sooner become a monk than marry her." Pank frowned. "Maybe Aterus wants her."

"What?" Aterus was jolted out of his comfortable silence. "I'm only eleven! Much too young to get married!"

"Indeed." Severus confirmed. "You must be Rupert Lennox then?"

"Yes, I went to Dublin Wizarding Primary and my parents own a small robe shop."

"And why did you choose Hogwarts?" Severus asked. "Most of your classmates must have gone on to Ireland's own wizarding school."

"Actually, that's exactly why my parents decided to send me to Hogwarts." Rupert admitted slightly embarrassed. "I ... um ... didn't fit in with my classmates that well and they thought it best that I should start over with a completely new group."

"Didn't fit in how?" Severus asked maybe a little too sternly. "Did you fight, maybe hurt someone?"

"No, not much that is. At least not in my last year." Rupert squirmed. "When I was younger I sometimes fought when the older kids picked on me."

"Picked on you?" Severus realised he clearly had misjudged the remark. "Why?"

"I honestly don't know. They just didn't like me." Rupert apparently didn't want to tell.

Severus cast another glance over his notes on the student. Nothing. The boy had been bullied, but why? He wasn't Muggle born or even a half blood, not a Squib, nor did he have a Squib parent. He didn't have any physical abnormalities as far as Severus could see and he didn't seem like a good victim either. It only takes one loud mouthed prejudiced fool that happens to be popular, though.

"I see." he told Rupert. "I doubt this could happen again here. Slytherins stick together and accept each other's individuality."

He cast a warning glance towards Pank, but the Anterhills weren't known to be prejudiced. The Nocturnes and the Montreys were the only traditionally dark names on this years' students list and Randolph Montrey had ended up in Ravenclaw. Severus really needed to talk to the Nocturne girl.

"Well, I already know you." he said handing Billy his schedule. "Which means you are Aterus Sorrel."

"My father has a broom company." Aterus reported. "Mother's a housewife. I was home schooled without any other kids. My teacher did have a group of other students, but Mum never wanted me to meet other children. She isn't happy with me coming here now either."

"Then why Hogwarts and not London or West Hogsmeade where you would come home every day?" Severus asked.

"Family tradition. My father insisted that I attend the most prestigious school in the country." Aterus sighed. "Look, I like it here. It's just my mother that thinks I'll catch a deadly disease, if I talk to another child."

Severus nodded and handed him his schedule. "I didn't mean it as an accusation. I just need to know who you all are and what problems each of you might have. Which reminds me: I want you to know that you can always turn to me with any problem you might have. Even when it seems too small, or too big for me to handle. If I can't help you with it myself, I might still be able to point you towards someone who can and I promise to keep everything you tell me completely confidential."

He looked at the group for a moment, but none of them seemed to have anything to say.

"So, do any of you know why Colleen Nocturne still hasn't come in for breakfast?" Severus asked after a moment.

"Maybe breakfast is icky." Danny commented.

"Yes, there might be leftovers in it." confirmed Tullia. "Or it might have been touched by a Hufflepuff."

"Nocturne has airs." Rupert informed Severus. "She wants nothing to do with anybody and the food's not good enough either."

"She'll turn up sometime." Pank agreed. "We can give her her schedule when she does."

Severus thought for a moment. He needed to meet the girl, but he couldn't run through the entire castle to find her. He had a class to teach in less than half an hour and she needed her schedule.

He nodded at Pank and handed him the parchment. The boy was pureblood enough that Colleen had to accept it from him no matter how prejudiced she was. "I hold you personally responsible for giving this to her."

"Yes Sir." Pank almost saluted.

"That's Professor, Pank, not Sir." Severus sighed.

"Yes Sir." Pank grinned and took off.

 

"Here's your schedule, Nocturne." The curtains of Colleen's bed were suddenly pulled aside and someone threw a rumpled bit of parchment at her. "And Professor Snape wants to talk to you, if you can find the time."

"Mmmm ... right away." Colleen mumbled still only half awake.

"That might be a bad time." Danny grinned down at her. "We've got Latin in fourteen minutes. See you there."

Colleen shot up in bed and fumbled around on her nightstand until she found her watch. 8:47!

"Got everything, Tullia? Anny? Good then lets go." The door opened and closed and Colleen was alone.

She found the parchment still on her pillow and did her best to straighten it. Tuesday nine o'clock: Latin. Oh no!

Colleen tumbled out of bed dizzy as she often was right after waking up and stumbled into the bathroom. There was no time to shower or brush her teeth, but she had to do something about her hair.

She quickly brushed it out. Where were her hairpins?

Well, there wasn't any time left for the elaborate bun she usually wore anyway. Instead she grabbed an elastic band that lay next to the sink. She thought she'd seen one like it in the Mudblood's hair the other day, but it was the only thing on hand. A pony tail would have to do for the day.

In fact, it didn't even look bad, she thought regarding herself in the mirror for a moment before she remembered the time. 8:56, she had to run.

She raced back into the dorm. Where was her book bag?

Still in the trunk. She fumbled with the lock for what seemed like an eternity, threw out most of her clothes when the trunk finally opened.

Clothes! Where was her uniform?

She'd just thrown it on the floor!

It took her only a minute to dress and find the book bag, but what to put in it? Latin, first lesson. Latin book. Parchment, ink, quill.

What else?

The schedule was gone! ... No, no, she'd taken it with her to the bathroom.

She found it under her hairbrush. Second lesson: Charms. Charms book. Then lunch. She could get the rest of her books for the day during lunch break.

Her stomach growled at the thought of lunch, but there was no time for that now. She ran to the door, opened it ...

Her wand!

Back to the bed. No wand! Oh no, what should she do!

Try again. There it was.

Wand in one hand, book bag in the other she raced down the stairs. Now where should she go? She had no idea where the Latin classroom was!

"You're late." a red-haired girl frowned at her.

Colleen blinked at the stranger. "Who're you?"

"I'm the one who kindly agreed to show you to your classroom, so my best friend wouldn't be late for her first class of the year." the girl sneered.

"You're not a prefect." Colleen declared. At least the girl wasn't wearing a badge.

"My best friend is the fifth year prefect." the girl answered just as haughtily. "She was supposed to take you guys to class today, but you didn't show up in time and she didn't want to miss Ancient Runes for one stupid brat. However I don't take Ancient Runes, so I kindly offered to help you out. You could show at least a little appreciation."

"What's your name?" Colleen demanded.

"Ally," the girl frowned at her. "Allyssia Nott."

Colleen's face brightened immediately. "Colleen Nocturne." she introduced herself offering Ally her hand. "Very pleased to meet you."

Ally rolled her eyes. "Will you just follow me, you clown!"

Colleen hung her head and trudged after Ally. Apparently she'd managed to mess this up completely. The first girl she met at Hogwarts that was on her social level and she had to piss her off right away.

The Latin teacher looked at her very sternly when Ally finally opened the door to the Latin classroom and shooed her in.

"I'm sorry." Colleen started not sure what to say.

The teacher just waved her towards a still free chair in the first row. "We are generally held to tolerate lateness of first years during the first week of school. I don't approve of the policy myself, but the headmaster insists that you need to learn your way around the school first. So I won't take points this time. See that it doesn't happen again, though. It is your duty to see that you get where you have to be on time."

"I'm sorry, Professor." Colleen repeated.

"As I was saying my name is Professor Julius Stylus." the teacher turned his attention back to the rest of the class and Colleen breathed a sigh of relief. "I will now take attendance starting with the Hufflepuffs. Hermelindis Berring!"

"It's actually just Hermy, Professor Stylus." the small plump girl Colleen remembered from the sorting said.  
v Hermy, what a ridiculous nickname. Colleen shook her head and started to set up her things on her desk.

And discovered to her horror that she shared it with Gangolf Bartering of all people! Yuck!

"Melitta Eagle!" Professor Stylus continued after noting Hermelindis' nickname on his list.

"Just Mel." the girl behind Hermy corrected with a smile and Professor Stylus went right back to writing.

"Jorge Gomez!"

"Um ... Buenos dias. My name Jorge." a dark haired boy answered.

"We think Jorge doesn't understand English, Professor." his neighbour explained. "He seems to be speaking only Italian."

The teacher nodded. "Okay, no problem. I'm sure he'll learn soon. It's actually Spanish, though, a language closely related to Latin, luckily, so we should be able to establish communication soon. Jean-Louis Jock!"

Colleen regarded Jorge Gomez with distaste. A foreign wizard! She was really glad that he wasn't in her house. The housemates she'd been stranded with already were bad enough.

"Laurissa-Sue Porter!"

"Lorie, Professor." My what a homely looking little girl. She was even wearing pigtails! Colleen's frown deepened.

"Nigel Rouen!" was at least a pureblood, but as a Hufflepuff he was of course beneath her. Where was she going to find appropriate friends at all?

"Alexander Vauxhall!" That family had been entirely pureblood until two generations ago. If Colleen's assumption about 'Alex's' origin was correct, his mother was a Muggle, though.

"Carmelitta Weasley!"

What? For a moment Colleen thought she had heard wrong. A Weasley in Hufflepuff? That family was supposed to be Gryffindor!

"Cam, Professor." the girl certainly looked like a Weasley.

"Well, a Weasley in Hufflepuff." the teacher smiled. "That's a little unusual, though I have taught lots of Weasleys so far, I've never seen one in that house. Which branch of the family are you of, Cam?"

"My father's Bill Weasley, son of Arthur Weasley." Cam reported apparently used to the question.

"Ah yes, your mother went to Beauxbattons, didn't she? You probably got your Hufflepuff genes from her side of the family." Professor Stylus decided.

Cam shrugged. "To be honest, I don't really care. I love it in Hufflepuff. It's a wonderful house and Professor Sprout is absolutely great."

"That's nice to hear." Professor Stylus commented. "Jonathan Yeel!"

"Here." stated the boy who sat next to the foreign wizard.

"And Corinna Zander!"

"Here." squeaked the last Hufflepuff nervously.

"What a bunch of losers." Colleen commented to herself.

"Well, not everybody can be as strikingly handsome as I." Gangolf answered her.

Colleen glanced over at him and moved her chair away as far as she could while still staying at her desk. She absolutely had to find someone else to sit with in her other subjects.

Meanwhile the teacher was making his way trough the list of Slytherins. Pathetic how they all insisted to be called: Pank, Danny, Anny and Billy! And what kind of name was Dinah anyway? Or Tullia? Really, that girl reminded her more and more of a trout.

"Colleen Nocturne!"

"I much prefer to be addressed as Ms Nocturne." she informed Professor Stylus.

"I could call you Little Miss Late, if you like." the teacher returned to the amusement of the rest of the class. "Or shall we stick with Colleen after all?"

Colleen decided that such a remark wasn't worthy of an answer. Stupid Mudblood teacher.

At least the lesson wasn't difficult at all. They only learned how to introduce themselves in Latin, because the stupid Mudblods didn't know any Latin at all, yet. What did they learn in their stupid vulgar Mudblood primary schools?

After class both groups of first years waited outside for their prefects to come and lead them to their next class. In fact a whole swarm of Hufflepuffs showed up to tend to their first years. Babies!

The Slytherins got only one prefect to show them the way to Charms. This time it was the seventh year boy, Marcus Fortescue. Colleen didn't deem him worthy of recognission. After all his father only owned an ice cream shop. How common!

When they arrived at the Charms classroom Colleen thought to remedy her neighbour problem, but the Sorrel boy, who seemed the most appropriate choice so far immediately placed himself beside the Snape boy, another possibility she'd considered.

She wasn't sure about 'Billy'. The name was terribly common, the Snapes not particularly rich and she had no idea who the boy's mother might be, but Snape was still a well known and respected name, the Snapes had always been Slytherins and Billy was a teacher's son. Not just any teacher's in fact, but that of her head of house. The boy might well prove to be worth while, if she could overlook his obvious flaws.

Next she thought of the Anterhill heir, but he was already sitting next to that Lennox boy again. Bartering was just demonstrating his mirror charm for them. The professor would probably be delighted with the idiot.

The annoying Rassle girl had chosen to sit with the trout and the Hufflepuff with the Mudblood. All four were whispering with their heads together shooting occasional glances her way.

Colleen stalked to the back of the room and sat down by herself. With a little luck she could remain alone at her desk.

They had Charms together with Gryffindor house, which served to cheer her up a bit. The Gryffindors apparently had never heard of helping out their first years, or strength in numbers. They were all late and arrived either alone or in pairs. Professor Flitwick was much too lenient, though, and he seemed to have some dwarfish blood on top of it. Or was it goblin? Eeeewwww!

"Ah, did the Gryffindors get lost again?" Flitwick smiled when he entered the class to find only ten students there. "It's strange, but it seems Slytherins and Hufflepuffs always find their classrooms faster than the other houses and the Gryffndors always take the longest. Well, lets start to get to know each other while we wait. I am Professor Flitwick, your Charms teacher and what's your name?"

"I'm Gangolf Bartering." Gangolf beamed. "I can already do a mirror charm and hair conditioning charm and ..."

They were spared what Colleen suspected was a complete list of all beauty charms ever invented by the noisy entrance of a spiky haired boy.

"Ah, our first Gryffindor. Come on in and tell me your name." Flitwick said jovially.

"Oliver." the boy panted. "Oliver Sanger. Why do the stairs have to move about all the time?"

"Actually they do that quite voluntarily." Professor Flitwick informed him. "An enchantment cast by Godric Gryffindor himself in order to amuse and challenge the students."

They were interrupted once again by the entrance of two Gryffindor girls one of whom was clearly the most ugly person Colleen had ever seen.

The other one introduced herself as Sophie, though Colleen remembered her as Sophie-Marleen Patter-Hendrics from the sorting. Why really, couldn't people remember something as simple as stating their last name when introducing themselves?

The ugly one was at least a little wiser. "Laura." she said. "Elenor Warthay on paper."

Considering the big wart on her nose that might not have been the wisest thing to say after all. The class burst out into laughter. Gangolf sneered and pointed. Dinah pressed both hands over her mouth in an attempt to stop herself, but it was no use, even the boys had to chuckle a little.

The three Gryffindors glared at them, but of course that didn't impress the Slytherins much.

"You know, you didn't have to tell us that." Colleen informed Laura. "It's written on your face after all."

A quick shield charm from Professor Flitwick prevented Laura from throwing herself at Colleen and they got halfway though the Slytherin boys' introduction before the next Gryffindor stumbled in.

Wendy Carmey deserved an award for speed talking Colleen decided afterwards. She suspected that she would have found out half of the girl's life story, if she'd been able to understand most of what she said.

However Wendy didn't get to tell the other half of her life as two boys arrived shortly after her.

Charles Forbes seemed as quiet as Wendy was talkative, but Dominic King spoke for them both. By now there were no empty desks left and Colleen began to worry a little. The Gryffindors would prefer to sit next to other Gryffindors, wouldn't they?

Halley Alberta, who arrived in the middle of Tullia's demonstration of her Mermish skills, did indeed pick the seat next to Wendy and a halfblood called Ceasareus Tonks placed himself next to Oliver Sanger just before they were done with attendance and began the actual lesson.

Professor Flitwick was just explaining the miniscule differences between charms, hexes, glamours and enchantments when the door opened once again and a dark skinned boy walked in.

Flitwick glanced at his class list. "Mr. Thomas Quentin, I assume?"

"Yes, Sir. Sorry for being late. I got lost."

"I know, I know. Happens to first years every year." Flitwick agreed tolerantly. "Please sit down and copy the lists on the blackboard. They show the differences between the different categories of spells."

Colleen held her breath until Thomas Quentin sat down next to Gangolf. Phew, that had been close. One more student and she would have had to share her desk.

"Another separate category that I don't want to get into too deeply today are the curses. We will not study any curses in this class this year, but they mostly fall into the DADA sector anyway. You will hear more about them there, though I don't know in what year my colleague plans to cover them, yet."

Colleen frowned once again, She had been looking forward to learning curses. Her father had already shown her a few, but she'd never been allowed to try them herself.

"In our next lesson we will start practical exercises on a simple charm, so I want to take a closer look at the theory behind charms in general now." Flitwick pointed at the list of criteria noted under charms. "As you can see here ..."

The door opened and a tiny girl in old, too large robes stumbled in.

"Ah, Ms Barbara Xanton?" Flitwick smiled.

"I ran into Peeves." Barbara Xanton explained. "He directed me down into the dungeons." She shuddered. "Professor Snape already took points."

"It's alright Ms. Xanton. Peeves can be nasty. Please sit down and copy this list."

Oh no! No! Not that shabby little something!

"Hi, I'm Babsie." the girl introduced herself to Colleen.

"Just keep your filthy paws away from me." Colleen hissed and secretly hoped that her luck would improve after lunch.

She was getting really hungry too. 'Please, let them not serve stew. Anything but stew.'

 

A/N: So what do you think of Colleen now? Will she ever make friends with any of her classmates? And what is Rupert's problem?

 

In the next chapter: We see what's for lunch, take a walk in Anny's head and maybe one of the boys' as well.


	6. Potions Class

Chapter 6: Potions Class

 

Lunch was the most delicious stew Anny had ever eaten. Despite the strange surroundings that still made her a little nervous she took a second helping.

So far, she thought while watching the boys build a tower out of their empty pumpkin juice glasses, her classmates seemed really nice. Except for that arrogant Colleen, who didn't seem to like anybody, they'd all been very willing to help her find her way through this strange, but fascinating world.

Dinah was definitely the best. She'd even switched beds with Tullia so she had the bed right next to Anny's! Anny had never before had a friend like that.

She'd had friends in primary school and her neighbourhood back in Leeds, of course, but she'd never felt like the preferred friend of any of them. They'd just been a group of children she'd often played with. Dinah actually liked her better than Tullia and Danny, who, in Anny's opinion, were both terribly cool. She wished she could take ghosts and moving pictures in stride like that.

"Great stew, don't you think, girls?" Danny was at it again.

"Oh yes, delicious." Tullia beamed at Colleen.

Nocturne glared back at them and stuck to the salad.

"What is it with you two anyway?" Anny asked her nodding towards Gangolf who once again had barely touched his food. "Are you on a salad diet, or something?"

"Oh, shut up Mudblood." Colleen hissed.

"You shut up, death eater." Dinah returned before Anny could even think of a comeback.

Death eater? That was the weirdest insult Anny had ever heard. At least it made no sense in this situation. She could imagine it as something a vegetarian might say to someone eating meat, but Colleen was the one who was eating only salad. What did salad have in common with death?

"Don't let her get to you, Anny." Dinah declared loudly. "She's just jealous, because you're a better witch than she is."

"We haven't even done any magic, yet." Anny reminded her blushing slightly at the compliment. "How do you know who's the better witch?"

"Easy," Dinah grinned. "You have the better heart."

"Nocturne's probably so inbred she can't even perform a proper spell at all." Tullia threw in.

"That's right." Danny smirked. "Mirrorboy here has already proven he can at least do a charm, but what about you, Nocturne? You're so proud of your magic, so where is it?"

"I bet Mudblood doesn't know any spells at all." Colleen frowned.

Anny bit her lip. No she didn't know any spells. She'd read the names of some in her Charms book, but she'd never performed one. Most likely all the others already had quite a repertoire. How was she ever going to catch up?

"Anny grew up among Muggles." Dinah defended her again. "They didn't know any magic to teach her."

"But you're a big pureblood, aren't you?" Danny grinned evilly. "You grew up on magic. So lets see some."

"Right, show us what you can do!" Dinah demanded.

To Anny's horror Colleen did indeed pull out her wand. She pointed it straight at Danny and shouted some weird word Anny didn't understand.

A tiny spark flew out of her wand but fizzled out long before it reached its target.

Danny's only reaction was loud laughter. "That's the best you can do? A tiny spark?"

A second later Professor Snape was standing behind Colleen as if he had just materialised out of thin air.

"Ms Nocturne, I assume?" he asked in a dangerously soft tone.

"They challenged me to demonstrate my magic." Colleen defended herself before Snape even asked.

Anny could hardly believe how dangerous the friendly Professor from this morning suddenly seemed. He almost scared her even though she hadn't done anything wrong.

"With a dissolving hex aimed at one of your classmates?" Snape asked. "Detention, Ms Nocturne. Report to my office after your last class today."

"Your Dad sure can be scary." Anny commented to Billy as soon as the teacher had left.

"The scariest in all the school." Dinah confirmed before Billy could answer. "He's famous for it in the entire wizarding world."

"Nonsense." Billy snorted. "McGonagall is much worse, especially to Slytherins."

"Because Snape's nicer to Slytherins." Dinah said. "It's only because we're his house."

"And McGonagall is worse to Slytherins." Billy insisted. "Just you wait and see."

"I like Professor Stylus, though." Anny commented. "He was really nice to that Spanish boy."

"My name Jorge?" Danny tried to imitate Jorge's accent. "What a weird kid."

"I'd like to see you in a Spanish school." Billy scolded. "At least he's trying to learn English."

Danny shrugged. "Still sounds funny."

"I wonder what he's doing here in the first place." Aterus said. "Why isn't he in a Spanish school?"

"Maybe they don't have wizarding schools in Spain." Anny suggested.

"And where do all the other Spanish children go?" Pank asked. "Spain is much too big not to have its own school."

"They don't have a boarding school, though." Billy seemed to know what he was talking about. "There are only three wizarding boarding schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbattons. All the other schools make the students come by floo everyday."

"Flu?" asked Anny.

"No, floo." Dinah stated as if that explained everything.

"That's what we call travelling through the fireplace." Tullia translated.

"Travelling through the fireplace?" Was that even possible?

"Yes, you throw in the floo powder and say where you want to go and it takes you to that place's fireplace. Very simple." Rupert explained.

"But what if there's a fire in the fireplace? Wouldn't you get burned?" Anny remembered the scar her grandmother had from accidentally knocking over a candle as a child. She had told her that it had been very painful.

"Of course not." Aterus frowned. "Why would I get burned?"

"There has to be a fire to travel through floo." Billy added. "You have to throw the floo powder into the fire."

Anny shivered. "I don't think floo travelling is for me."

Colleen laughed out loud at that. "Stupid little Mudblood can't even use the floo!"

"Well, you don't have to once you have your apparition license." Dinah assured Anny.

"Maybe Jorge doesn't like the floo either." Aterus suggested. "I heard some people get sick from all the spinning around. That might be a reason to choose boarding school over a local one that requires daily flooing."

"Or maybe his parents just wanted him out of their hair." Colleen suggested. "If he's in boarding school, they only have to bother with him during the holidays."

"Why would they have children, if they don't want to bother with them?" Dinah sounded confused.

"To have an heir to their name of course." Colleen returned as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "If you're lucky your first child is a boy, and you don't have to have another."

The children stared at her.

"Gee, Nocturne doesn't like children. We should have guessed." Danny rolled her eyes.

"What's our next class?" Pank asked laying down his knife and fork.

"Potions." reported Rupert. "Then there's a Sports class, but I don't have that one and after that Transfigurations. And we have DADA in the seventh lesson today."

"At least that gives us an hour off in between." Pank decided. "Check your schedules, everybody. Who has Sports today?"

"Not me." Danny was the first to answer. "Monday fourth lesson."

"Me too, Monday fourth." Tullia confirmed happily. "We've got Sports together!"

Anny quickly pulled her own schedule out of her bookbag. She'd put it into her notebook so it wouldn't get wrinkled, but didn't dare to put the Muggle paper where Colleen could see it. The others probably weren't a problem. She'd seen Billy pack away a very similar notebook after Latin class and Aterus hadn't commented at all.

"Monday as well." she stated once she'd managed to manoeuvre the schedule out while keeping the notebook hidden. "Dinah?"

Dinah seemed to have mislaid her schedule. She dug frantically through her bag until she finally thought to check her pockets. The parchment she finally found turned out to be very wrinkled.

Dinah wrinkled her nose at the wrinkled parchment and pulled out her wand. "Recto!"

The parchment shivered for a moment, then lay still again.

"Recto!" Dinah repeated pointing her wand at it more forcefully.

Very slowly the schedule straightened out a little. Dinah scowled at the incomplete result, then beamed.

"Monday as well!" she shouted and hugged Anny.

"It seems we've all got the Monday lesson anyway." Pank summed up. "That means we have two hours off today."

"We should probably get our Potions things now, though." Rupert remarked.

Anny looked up and discovered to her surprise that they were the only ones still in the great hall. "Do you think we'll find the way back to the common room?"

"Of course." Rupert declared. "Follow me."

Indeed Rupert managed to lead them down into the dungeons, but after the third turn he stopped at a corner and stared at it thoughtfully.

"What's wrong?" Pank asked warily.

"I'm not sure whether to take this corridor or the next one." Rupert frowned. "I was so sure it was the next one, but this one looks so familiar."

Pank regarded the corridor in question for a moment, then walked ahead to check the other one.

"We'll take this one!" he called out. "Come on."

"No way." Colleen declared. "I'm taking this corridor."

Anny stood undecided for a moment. Follow Colleen, or Pank? They both seemed completely convinced that they were right. If the group split up what would happen to the ones on the wrong way? What if she got lost with Colleen? But what if Pank was wrong after all?

"Do whatever you like Nocturne." Danny declared loudly. "Come on girls, we're going with the boys. Good to be rid of the death eater's foul company."

For a moment Anny felt even more confused. Would the girl group break up? But Dinah and Tullia followed Danny without the slightest hesitation.

Anny smiled. Of course! She'd go wherever Dinah went. Dinah wouldn't desert her and, if they got lost, they'd be lost together. Dinah would know what to do.

"Anny!" Pank called from up ahead. "What are you waiting for? We might lose you, if you fall too far behind."

"We just lost Colleen!" Anny yelled back. "She went that way."

Pank hesitated for a moment. "I don't care about Nocturne." he decided then. "She doesn't care about any of us, so we won't care about her. If she never turns up again at least we won't have to listen to her insults anymore."

"Yeah, forget the death eater." Danny confirmed. "Why do you worry about her at all? Everything she's ever said to you was an insult."

Anny wanted to return some explanation for her interest in Colleen's wellbeing, but she didn't really understand it herself. The only answer that came to her mind was so ridiculous, that she didn't dare say it. After all what would the others think, if she told them that Colleen was wearing her hair band?

Instead she just shrugged and ran after the group. Let Colleen be. Somebody would probably find her sooner or later. This was a school, not some deserted maze after all.

They'd gone about halfway down the new corridor when they came upon another of those fascinating moving pictures. This one was of a teacher in green robes sitting at his desk with an old blackboard behind him. Just as Anny was about to pass it a snake suddenly poked its head out of his sleeve and tested the air with its tongue.

Anny stopped. She'd only ever seen snakes in pictures before and none of those had moved. Her mother had often mentioned that 'disgusting snake tongue', but Anny had never before seen one. It looked rather cute, she decided.

The snake noticed her attention and slithered out a little further as her wizard looked on with an amused smile.

"Oh Dinah, look at the pretty snake!" Anny exclaimed when she noticed the perfectly drawn scales on the snake's body. "Have you ever seen one like this before?"

The other first years stopped and returned to where Anny was standing gazing up at the picture in fascination.

The snake preened as nine sets of eyes looked right at it.

"No, never." Dinah said. "I don't know much about snakes, though."

"It's not a common garden snake." Rupert declared. "That much is obvious."

"Maybe it's a foreign species." Tullia suggested. "I mean, it's obviously a pet and people don't usually pick common native animals as pets."

"You're right." Aterus nodded. "Maybe he's in my snake book back at home. I can check when I go home for Christmas."

"Actually, that's a she." Anny jumped in surprise when the wizard in the picture spoke. "And she isn't foreign either. She's an adder."

"Not the usual type, though." Aterus insisted.

The picture teacher looked thoughtful. "They weren't really rare back in my days." he said with a little sigh. "But it's been a very long time. Much has changed since then."

"She is very beautiful." Anny was trying to make amends for her probably impolite reaction to the picture's first words. "I'm sorry they have become so rare."

"Adders are poisonous." Pank pointed out. "It'd be dangerous to have them crawling around under every stone."

The teacher picked his snake up gently and held her out for Anny to see.

"Yes, they are poisonous, but also very intelligent. Sassy doesn't just keep me company, she also is an excellent partner in philosophic discussions." the picture continued. "But you are probably too young to appreciate Philosophy much." he smiled. "You are this year's Slytherin first years, I assume."

They nodded.

"Yes, Sir." said Pank. "And you are the portrait of a former teacher?"

"You can call me Salazar." he smiled. "I consider myself a friend of all members of my house."

Anny smiled as well. "Hi, Salazar. I'm Anny."

The others however were just staring at Salazar open-mouthed.

"Salazar?" Pank finally got out. "You're Salazar Slytherin?"

"Yes, that's my name." The reaction seemed to amuse Salazar. His eyes sparkled and his smile grew a little wider.

"You are the founder of our house." Billy said reverently. "You helped build the castle."

"My original, yes. I am only a picture, myself."

"You don't look scary at all." Dinah declared. "I always thought you'd be tall and dark and imposing."

Salazar laughed. "Ah, they tell so many tales about me. Don't believe everything you hear. Much of my story has been distorted over the centuries."

"Oh, you have to tell us about it someday." Pank decided. "But right now we have to get back to the common room before we're late for Potions."

"Ah, but this isn't the way to the common room." Salazar shook his head. "You took a wrong turn, I'm afraid."

"Oh no, Nocturne was right, after all." Anny realised. "We should have taken the first corridor."

"Great, now she'll gloat about that." Danny groaned.

"But she didn't meet Salazar." Rupert smirked. "I bet that will shut her up."

"Can you tell us how to get back to the common room, Salazar?" Anny asked the picture.

"Of course." Salazar smiled again. He seemed to do that a lot. "This is the corridor you're in." he drew a line on the blackboard. "Here's the one you came from. This is where the stairs are. Now here's the corridor you should have taken. Then you should have walked past these two and turned here and here ... And here's the secret entrance. See? So to get back you have to take this path." He lined it out in a thicker line on the blackboard. If you take a wrong turn here, you should come upon a suit of armour about here. Then you have to turn back again, and the other wrong corridor leads to a storage room. Do you think you'll manage?"

"Oh yes, thank you Salazar!"

They ran off, but just as she reached the corner Anny took one last look back at the picture. She simply had to remember where Salazar hang. She'd never spoken to a picture before, but somehow she knew that Salazar was the most special picture in the castle. She simply had to visit him again when she had some time.

Anny was lagging behind again! Pank stopped to shout for her. Maybe they were going too fast? He simply couldn't lose the Muggle born witch. What if she ran into another magical trinket she didn't know? A simple revolving door might be an unsurpassable obstacle to her.

It was worse because he knew so little about the Muggle world she'd grown up in. Owls were strange to her and she wasn't familiar with ghosts at all, but she apparently knew what secret passwords and blackboards were.

How could he assure that no harm came to her, if he didn't know what might be a danger to her?

Now Anny was catching up, but Aterus and Billy had just disappeared around the corner.

"Aterus! Wait!" Pank yelled after them. "We'll lose Anny!"

"I'm fine." Anny protested and ran past him.

Pank looked back again and the rest of the girls tore past him as well. Rupert had slowed down to stay next to him, but where was ...

"Gangolf! Hurry up!" Pank yelled, but Mirrorboy, as Danny had so aptly called him, was apparently doing the best he could. He was panting heavily and clutching his side as he ran.

Great, just great.

At least the others turned out to be waiting around the corner.

"We have to stop and wait for Gangolf." Pank told them. "He's already out of breath."

Billy stuck his head around the corner to check. "Oh my. Hasn't anybody ever taught him how to breathe properly? He'd never make the Soccer team."

"Soccer team?" Danny snorted. "I doubt he'd even want to join any team. Unless there's a beauty competition team."

"There's a ballet class." Billy said.

"There's a ballet class at Hogwarts?" Dinah asked surprised.

"No, at West Hogsmeade. I know the teacher." Billy explained when Rupert gave him an odd look. "She's an ex-Raker. Was in the gang with my brother."

"Gang?" Pank was beginning to worry about Billy.

"Yes, the Rakers are our local gang. Miracle Mely leads them right now." Billy nodded eagerly. "They have a big Soccer match in the park every year, sometimes two. This year they won five to three."

"Against the Hogwarts team?" Anny asked.

Apparently the Muggle born knew what that Soccer was. It had to be some sort of game similar to Quidditch, but Pank had no idea what to do with the five to three numbers Billy had stated.

"No, against the Lions." Billy shook his head. "Hogwarts has never played a real game."

"They play against wild animals?" Rupert sounded very impressed.

"Of course not. Animals can't play Soccer." Billy snorted. "The Lions are another gang. They wear green. The Rakers wear blue."

"Why isn't there a red and a yellow gang as well?" Dinah asked.

Still such a Hufflepuff, thought Pank. He'd have to do something about that before she got in trouble with some of the less friendly Slytherins. He might have decided to forget about Colleen, but he still felt responsible for the rest of the group. They were all still so young and clueless.

"Oh, there are. The red ones are called the Sharks and the yellow ones are the Avengers." Billy explained. "They don't play Soccer, though. The Sharks have a band and I think the Avengers like to draw and do all sorts of individual competitions."

Well, maybe Billy wasn't a problem after all. At least this sounded like he was talking about simple hobby clubs, even if he called them gangs.

Gangolf finally stumbled around the corner and they set off again at a slower pace. Nocturne and a prefect were already waiting.

"Sorry," Pank told the prefect before he could say anything. "We got held up talking to Salazar."

"Salazar?" asked Colleen haughtily.

Pank grinned. "Yes, Salazar Sytherin's portrait. He's such an interesting person that we almost forgot the time."

"Well, get your cauldrons. You don't want to be late for Potions of all classes."

Three minutes later Pank had his entire group assembled in the common room and ready to go. He quickly checked one last time before he followed the prefect outside. There was Rupert right next to him, Gangolf trying to get the prefect's attention, Billy trying to explain Soccer to Aterus who apparently didn't even know the rules of Quidditch, Danny and Tullia were whispering about something and Dinah and Anny were comparing their cauldrons. Oh, and there was Nocturne pouting at Danny as usual. Pank wondered what they'd clashed over this time.

The Potions classroom was in the very next corridor after Salazar's, but of course nobody mentioned that little fact to Colleen. Let her look for him herself, if she wanted to find him.

Professor Snape smiled at them as they entered.

Pank made sure that he and Rupert sat right in front of Gangolf, who was once again left alone. This way the poor boy wouldn't feel entirely friendless. Aterus and Billy were in front of them, Danny and Tullia to their left and Anny and Dinah behind them. Nocturne picked the very last worktable in the empty left row and scowled at them. Stupid snob.

The Ravenclaws were only two minutes late and apologised profusely. Just like the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs they moved about the castle in a group, but apparently they didn't have anybody to show them the way and had taken a wrong turn somewhere. If they had met Salazar, too, they didn't mention it.

They lost ten points for being late.

Professor Snape actually addressed the Slytherins by their nicknames when taking attendance. Then he got to the Ravenclaws.

"Ms. Atlers, Gabriella!" was the only first year whose sorting Pank had missed. She'd been up right after him while he was still looking for a chair at the Slytherin table.

"Mr. Bonk, Connor" blushed terribly when the professor read out his name.

"Well, it's not your fault that you were born with that name, I suppose." Snape stated sounding just a little insincere.

Connor Bonk blushed even more and tried to hide behind his cauldron.

"Ms Domally, Arnika and Mr. Donelly, Salvatore?" Snape sneered.

The two even turned out to be sitting next to each other.

"Well, Domally and Donelly, I hope you both have excellent hearing, because I'll take five points off Ravenclaw whenever the wrong person answers my question." Snape declared.

"But that's not fair!" a tiny, slightly pudgy girl exclaimed. "What difference does it make who answers you, if the answer is correct?"

"The difference that the person I actually asked might not know the answer." Snape answered coldly. "And five points off Ravenclaw for speaking out of turn."

"What?" The girl gasped.

"Another five points." Snape stated. "Care to make it fifteen?" he added when the girl opened her mouth again.

She quickly shook her head and stared down at her Potions book.

"Excellent. Then lets continue. Mr. Gregers, Nonius!"

"Here!" Nonius beamed at the teacher.

Pank wondered what was wrong with that boy. His house had just lost ten points and he looked as happy as a puffskein after five cheering charms.

Snape frowned at him and continued: "Ms. Iterton, Lucinda!"

"Here." answered the small troublemaker softly. Obviously she'd already learned her lesson.

"Mr. Montrey, Randolph!" Snape went on. "A Montrey in Ravenclaw? So you think you are really smart, don't you?"

"Yes, Sir. I mean, yes, I'm a Ravenclaw. I'm not smart at all, Sir. I just ... I ... uh ..."

"You what? Speak up, boy." Snape demanded harshly.

"I asked the hat not to put me into Slytherin, Sir." Randolph admitted. "Not because I don't like the house, I do. I just thought, with my father in Azkaban and all ... Well, I thought I'd better demonstrate that I'm not like him from the start." His voice became softer and softer as he spoke and the last part was almost impossible to hear.  
v The Potions teacher had apparently heard him, though. "I'll be keeping an eye on you, Montrey." he sneered before continuing with: "O'Malley, Shannon!"

"Here." Shannon was apparently Muggle born. Or else she'd never learned how to dress herself.

"Five points off Ravenclaw for improper dress." Snape snapped promptly.

"Improper? But that is the school uniform, Sir!" Shannon returned obviously confused.

"It is, but it is supposed to be worn with the outside on the outside and properly tied." the teacher stated dryly. "Everybody else in class managed that, so I don't think it's too much to ask."

"I'm sorry." Shannon pleaded. "I didn't know. I've never worn a robe before."

"There are other Muggle borns in class and they managed to dress." Snape said his eyes wandering to Anny.

Pank quickly checked the girl's clothes over as well and concluded that Dinah must have shown her how to straighten out her robes so they fell properly. Anny looked like a proper neat little witch. Even Colleen wouldn't be able to fault the way she dressed.

"Mr. Towerhill, Felix." Snape went on. "If you are going to wear your hat in class, Towerhill, please do try to sit in the back where you aren't obstructing anybody's vision of the blackboard."

Felix Towerhil hastily pulled off his hat.

"And finally Ms. Uberey, Cait." Snape paused for a moment before he launched into a description of what he claimed to be a simple potion against warts.

Pank hastily dove for ink and parchment. It sounded terribly complicated.

Hands shot into the air the moment Snape told them to brew the potion.

"What are porcupine quills?"

"Where am I supposed to put my cauldron?"

"Won't the table catch fire?"

"How do you cut these?"

"Do I really have to participate in this exercise, Dad? You know I can do it. I probably could brew this potion blindfolded."

Pank stared at Billy. He was the son of a Potions Master, yes, but ...

"These are porcupine quills." Snape held up a bundle of long, thin, black and white objects that definitely didn't look anything like Pank's eagle feather quill at all. "The cauldron goes right there. No, there's an anti burning charm on every item of furniture in this room. How stupid do you think I am? No brewing blindfolded, Billy. You could collide with someone or something."

"Does that mean that he thinks Billy really can brew this potion blind?" Rupert whispered impressed.

Pank shrugged.

Five minutes later he would have sworn that Billy could. While he and Rupert were still trying to sort out their ingredients and prepare them Billy was happily stirring his potion.

"You have to slice them more regularly, Aterus." Pank heard him tell his neighbour. "Else your potion will clot."

Meanwhile Gangolf was having a much more serious problem than Aterus.

"I can't touch that!" he shrilled hysterically. "It's slimy!"

"Of course it's slimy." Connor Bonk, who'd ended up next to him, commented reasonably. "It's a snail. Snails use the slime to glide on, since they have no legs to crawl with."

"Eeeww." answered both Gangolf and Colleen.

"You can wash your hands afterwards, Gangolf." Pank tried to convince the boy.

"Do you have any idea what slime does to ones skin?" Gangolf returned and took another step away from the snail on his table.

"Actually snail slime is good for the skin." Lucinda Iterton declared. "That's why it is used in many beauty potions and two centuries ago witches used to let snails crawl over their hands and face to ..."

"Yuck!" Colleen exclaimed with her hands over her ears. "Just shut up, Iterton, shut up!"

"It's good for the skin?" Gangolf asked to Pank's surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely sure." Lucinda confirmed.

Gangolf eagerly grabbed his snail and knife and went to work.

Ah, so that's how you dealt with Gangolf. Pank decided to remember that trick. It might solve a few of his problems. Just lucky that Colleen wasn't his responsibility anymore, because now she was refusing to cut up her snail.

Pank returned his attention to his own potion. His snail was cut a little unevenly, but he supposed it would work anyway.

Now which ingredient was he to throw in first? He quickly consulted his book. Ah, right ...

"You have to light the fire and wait for the water to boil before you can start brewing, Pank." Snape's voice came from somewhere in the back of the room.

"Ups! Sorry about that, Professor." Pank called out and lit the fire.

"I'm done, Dad!" Billy called out a moment later. "May I brew myself some invisible ink now?"

"No, I want you to come over here and help Colleen." Snape returned. "But don't do any of the actual work for her. Just tell her what to do."

"Oh, not Nocturne." Pank heard Billy groan softly, but the boy trudged back into the last row anyway."

"Domally, that's too little water. You're going to burn your potion like this." Snape's voice continued from the other side of the room.

It seemed this teacher was always in control of the situation, Pank thought. He had his eyes on everybody and knew exactly what each student was doing at any time. If only Pank could manage to keep his classmates that well in hand!

Tullia seemed to be daydreaming and Danny had picked a fight with that Muggle born Ravenclaw. Shannon, or something like that.

Pank threw a piece of rolled up parchment at Tullia and went to break up the fight, but Snape already had it under control.

"Mind your cauldron, Pank." the teacher instructed him. "It's about to boil over. Gangolf, you're supposed to stir, not twiddle the stirrer."

Damn! Missed something again!

But there was no time for Gangolf now. The potion really had risen almost to the rim of his cauldron.

Pank was exhausted by the time Potions ended and very glad they had an hour off before Transfigurations. He had just barely managed to finish his potion in time. Danny and Gangolf both had made some mistake and gotten an incorrect result. Rupert's potion had clotted and Dinah's had been a little too weak, but Snape had declared both results as acceptable.

"Okay everybody!" Pank called out. "Wait for me. It's better if we stay together until we know the castle better."

"I want to go to the library." Tullia called out.

Pank nodded while hastily washing his table. "Good idea. We'll go look for the library. We're probably going to need it soon anyway."

When they reached the stairs that led out of the dungeons a whole horde of Hufflepuffs was on their way down. Pank recognised their classmates from Latin and greeted them politely.

"Going to Potions?" Anny asked them as they passed.

"No, Sports. We're supposed to take a portkey from the caretaker's office." Mel Eagle answered. "We've got to run, though. Don't want to be late on the very first day. See you next Latin class!"

She waved at them once more before the group turned around another corner and disappeared.

"A portkey?" Anny asked.

"That's another way to travel." Dinah explained before Pank could. "You touch it and it takes you to where you want to go."

It was good that Dinah was so willing to explain things to the Muggle born. That way Pank didn't have to worry about her so much. If only Dinah weren't such a Hufflepuff!

The library proved quite difficult to find. A passing house elf was more than willing to give them directions, but the moving stairs had apparently decided to play tricks on them and they kept arriving on the wrong floor.

By the time they finally made it to the right floor they already had to go to Transfigurations. A friendly Hufflepuff offered to lead them to the classroom where Professor McGonagall was already waiting along with Sophie-Marleene Patter-Hendriks and Laura Warthay.

A slightly grumpy looking prefect brought in Colleen Nocturne just before the lesson began. The rest of the Gryffindors was once again late as McGonagall noted with an expression that was at least as sour as the prefect's.

Pank remembered Billy's claim that she was the most unpleasant teacher at Hogwarts. She definitely didn't like the fact that the Slytherins had proven to be more punctual than her own house and the stragglers were sternly admonished.

Caesareus Tonks stuck his tongue out at her behind her back. Clearly the Gryffindors didn't respect their head of house nearly as much as the Slytherins did.

She made an effort to make the first lesson interesting, though, demonstrating some impressive advanced transfigurations and telling them that, if they worked hard in her lessons, they too would be able to do that in a few years.

Then she handed each of them a toothpick and asked them to turn it into a pin.

Pank sat and stared at his toothpick. He waved his wand over it and concentrated. He poked it with his wand. Nothing.

He looked up to check on his classmates.

Most of them were staring at their toothpicks or waving their wands about ineffectually. Tullia earned herself another parchment to the head.

"Mr. Anterhill!" McGonagall hissed apparently angry. "Please leave Ms Waterwall alone and transfigure your toothpick. If I ever catch you throwing things in this class again, I will deduct points."

Pank glared at the old hag and poked his toothpick some more. He'd only been trying to help her!

"Uh, Professor McGongall?" Billy asked hesitantly. "I think I'm doing something wrong."

Pank looked up and gaped. Billy's toothpick was hovering about a metre above the desk. Even McGonagall blinked at the sight.

"Did you perhaps swish and flick your wand instead of just pointing it?" she asked after a moment.

Billy shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Did you say Wingardium Leviosa?"

"No, definitely not." Billy shook his head again.

"Can you make it come back down again?" Now McGonagall sounded nervous.

Billy nodded, concentrated and the toothpick gently sank back onto the desk.

"Do it again." the teacher ordered.

Billy pointed his wand at the toothpick just like McGonagall had shown them and the toothpick once again rose into the air.

"Well," McGonagall sighed deeply. "You are definitely a Snape."

 

A/N: Why do you think Jorge is attending Hogwarts? And what do you think of Anny? And Pank's attitude towards his classmates?

 

In the next chapter: Well, I really hope we'll finally get to finish the first day of school. That means we see the new DADA teacher in action and of course two more first years!


	7. Pepper Soup and Spaghetti

Chapter 7: Pepper Soup and Spaghetti

 

Gangolf stared at Billy's levitating match in fascination. Could one do the same with hair curlers, perhaps? That would be so very practical! If he didn't have to hold his curlers with his hands he could place them much more precisely, because he wouldn't have to twist around all the time. All he needed was a set of self twisting curlers just like his mother had and he'd have the nicest curls ever.

"Mr. Bartering!" McGonagall's voice drew him from his daydream. "Did you change your match, yet?"

Gangolf turned away from Billy's once again rising match and looked at his match. How very useless!

"Why would I ever need to turn a match into a pin?" he mumbled.

"Well, maybe you'd want to pin a picture of yourself to the wall, but don't have any pins with you." Pank suggested.

Yes, pinning up pictures was an activity that made sense and required pins. "But why would I be carrying a match with me?"

"To light candles." Anny suggested.

"To light your pipe." Aterus said.

"I've got my wand for that and smoking is bad for your looks. It makes you sick and you age faster." Gangolf declared. "I'll never smoke."

"But you still might want to light a candle when there are Muggles around." McGonagall interfered. "Or maybe you found the match on the table when you arrived. That often happens at Muggle hotels. Now please, at least try to change your match."

"You could try changing it into a hairpin." Danny said with a slight sneer. "Maybe that's easier for you."

Yes indeed, a hairpin was much better than an ordinary pin. Gangolf concentrated on what a hairpin looked like for about two seconds, then focused all his attention on the match and pictured it turning into the hairpin.

For a few minutes nothing happened, but then there was a slight 'plop' and the head disappeared. Gangolf beamed and concentrated harder. Slowly the wood turned thinner and into metal. Still not a hairpin, but the teacher seemed to be happy. She even awarded him five points for showing so much talent for Transfigurations.

Gangolf preened. Yes, of course he was the best! He should have expected this. After all he was the best looking, most gifted boy in all of Hogwarts.

"Great going, Gangolf!" Billy slapped him hard on the back and then the rest of the boys fell on him as well.

What a horde of brutes! His shoulder actually hurt for several seconds and his hair was probably all mussed up!

Gangolf hastened to the next bathroom before anyone could see him like that. Just lucky that he always carried a comb with him for emergencies.

The first bathroom turned out to be a girls' bathroom! Gangolf blushed and quickly closed the door again.

There had to be a boys' bathroom somewhere close, though. Bathrooms always came in pairs, didn't they? Ah, there it was.

Its mirror was filthy, though. Someone had apparently splashed water on it when washing his hands and not dried it off properly. Barbarians!

Gangolf wetted a towel and started to meticulously clean the mirror. He had to climb onto the sink to reach the top, but that couldn't be helped. He just couldn't leave a half cleaned mirror behind.

Yuck, there was dust on top of the mirror! Unfortunately Gangolf didn't have a feather duster handy and he couldn't use his freshly platted handkerchief to clean away such filth.

The door opened and an older boy walked in. Gangolf didn't pay him any attention as he was much too busy rubbing the mirror dry with another towel.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing up there?" the boy had stopped to stare at Gangolf.

"Isn't that obvious?" Gangolf asked without stopping his delicate work. If the mirror dried before he was finished it would be dotted with water stains wherever he hadn't dried it yet. "I'm cleaning the mirror."

"There are house elves for that." another voice sneered. Apparently the older boy had brought company.

"But I need to use the mirror now." Gangolf explained patiently. "I need to straighten out my hair."

Some snorting and laughing behind them, then: "The girls' bathroom is that way."

Gangolf didn't bother to look. "Boys can't go in there."

"Yes, but you're obviously not a boy." the sneering voice continued.

"And this bathroom is for boys only." the other one said.

"Then we'll obviously have to kick the little sissy out. It's our duty in order to protect the rightful users of this bathroom."

"Huh?" was all Gangolf got out before two pairs of strong arms plucked him off he sink.

He struggled and tried to kick, but somehow he never managed to hit his attackers right. They only laughed and dragged him along until they finally dropped him into the bin outside. It took him over a minute to pull himself out under the laughter of all the witnesses.

Gangolf glared at them, but they only laughed harder. Most of them were Gryffindors, he realised and quite a bit taller than him. And he probably looked even worse than before he'd gone to the bathroom to straighten out his hair.

"Don't you have a class to be in?" a teacher Gangolf hadn't seen before suddenly turned around a corner and the older students quickly disappeared in the direction of the Transfigurations classroom leaving only Gangolf and the messed up dustbin.

The teacher looked him up and down, then demanded: "What happened here?"

"I was just going to use the mirror in the bathroom, but it was dirty. I started to clean it, but then two older boys came in. They picked me up and threw me in there." Gangolf regarded the items that had fallen out in his struggle with the bin. "I was going to pick it up, I swear, but I was stuck in there and couldn't get out without making a mess. I only just managed."

"Who were those two boys?" the teacher demanded sternly.

Gangolf shrugged. "I don't know. I've never seen them before. It's only my first day. How should I know all those people?"

In fact he'd never even gotten a clear look at their faces.

"What's your next class?" the teacher asked more gently.

"Seventh lesson DADA." Gangolf sniffled a little against his will. "I've got time."

The teacher nodded. "Alright then. Clean it up and next time someone bothers you, tell a teacher or prefect."

Gangolf suppressed another sniffle and nodded. "Thank you, Sir."

It took only moments to clean up once he was alone. The worst part was actually having to touch things other people had thrown away and he was already covered in them anyway.

He wished he could repair the slightly bent out of shape bin as well, but he didn't know that spell, yet. Hopefully a house elf would see to it.

The corridor was empty now that class had started again, but Gangolf still felt horribly afraid that someone would see him like this as he snuck down the next smaller staircase and went to look for an out of the way bathroom where he didn't run such a big risk of meeting anybody.

The one he finally found was small and dirty. Obviously it hadn't been renovated recently. Still it was just what Gangolf had been looking for. He decided to remember its location in case he should need it again.

By the time he'd finished straightening himself out it was almost time to go to class and he realised with a jolt of fear that he didn't know where his classmates were. Why, oh why had he just walked out without telling them he needed to visit the bathroom? They'd probably have waited, if he'd asked them to.

Could he find his way back into the dungeons on his own?

It turned out he didn't have to. He reached the ground floor at almost the same time as a large group of older students and simply followed the Slytherins among them to the common room.

"There you are!" Pank was beside himself with worry. "Where were you?"

"I just went to the bathroom to freshen up a bit." Gangolf didn't feel like telling the group about his embarrassing adventure. "When I got out you'd left and I didn't know where you'd gone so I thought I'd just meet you back here before class."

The boys tried to tell him some nonsense about the library. Gangolf wished there were enough time to change into fresh robes, but all he could do, if he didn't want to get lost again, was grab his DADA book and follow the crowd.

The DADA teacher turned out to be an incredibly fat wizard who was dozing in his chair when they arrived. They apparently shared this class with the same group of students as Potions. Gangolf didn't remember what house that was, nor did he care. His neighbour from Potions refused to sit next to him again claiming that he was unbearably annoying.

Gangolf pressed his lips tightly together and pretended not to have heard him.

There was a parchment going around that every student was to write his name on. It seemed he'd ended up next to one Salvatore Donelly. Hadn't Professor Snape made some funny remark about that one in Potions? Gangolf didn't remember, but it didn't matter anyway.

He got out his ink, parchment and flamingo feather quill not forgetting to check whether the parchment was indeed nice and unwrinkled from the bag. He used a specially enspelled protective case for them, but you never could be too careful.

Salvatore blinked at the sight of the long pink quill.

"Isn't that a little girlish?" he asked.

Gangolf frowned at him. Salvatore's robe was wrinkled and he had an odd accent.

"I think it's pretty." he declared. "I like pink."

"Girly." Salvatore insisted.

When the last student put the list back on his desk the ugly teacher stretched a little and opened his eyes. "Hello class. Everybody here?"

They nodded expectantly.

"Fine. Then lets start. I'm Professor Hermes Hugge. Please open your books on page one."

Gangolf obediently opened his book. There stood the title and nothing else.

"Sir, that's the title page." that girl form Potions reported right away. The one that had lost so many points. Gangolf didn't remember her name either.

"Then move on to the first page." Hermes Hugge ordered. "You, start reading." He pointed at the girl by the window in the first row. Another one whose name Gangolf didn't remember.

"Introduction." she started reading. "The dark arts are hard to define subject matter. Most wizards think the term refers to spells and other magic used deliberately to harm others. This, though to an extent correct, is however a very unclear definition. Is it then dark arts to use Avada Kedavra to put a suffering animal out of its misery? Does a dark creature that doesn't have the intelligence to understand the difference between good and evil truly have harmful intent against its prey? ..."

How boring! Gangolf spelled the surface of his desk into a mirror. When the Professor didn't move to object he got out his comb and started arranging his hair. He could still listen while combing himself and that way it was a lot less boring.

"... This book does not intend to give a scholarly definition of what is to be considered dark and what isn't. Instead it is an attempt to help the average wizard and witch to protect themselves against all the dangers of the wizarding world, be they truly dark or not."

When the girl stopped reading Professor Hugge's eyes opened once again. He pointed at her neighbour: "Continue."

"Chapter one: Playful Little Traps, an introduction into trick steps, trap doors and other jokes our homes play on us. Throughout wizarding history it has been the custom ..."

"This is boring." Salvatore commented. "Say, Gangolf, what's your favourite Quidditch team?"

"Huh? ... Oh, I don't care about Quidditch. It causes such nasty scars."

"Gee, now I understand why nobody wants to sit next to you." Salvatore decided. "You really are dead boring."

So was DADA class. Gangolf wondered what his classmates had all been so excited for. At least it was the last class of the day. He really needed his beauty sleep so he didn't develop black rings under his eyes.

Dinner was probably going to contain way too much fat and sugar again, but if he remembered to stick to only salad and perhaps half an apple for dessert, he should be okay. And afterwards straight to bed to catch up on the sleep he'd lost because of the late end of the welcoming feast.

The others looked at him oddly when he went straight to bed after the meal and requested silence.

"Don't you want to play exploding snap with us?" Rupert asked.

"There are chess sets in the common room." Aterus added. "Or we could sing something."

"Yes, one of the prefects has a guitar. Dad says she always plays in the evenings." Billy confirmed.

"Or we could compare our Latin homework." Pank suggested. "Even if it was easy one of us might have an error."

"I need to sleep." Gangolf insisted. "I didn't even get my midday nap."

"Midday nap?" Billy repeated incredulously. "Those are for babies. Just how old are you?"

"Old enough to understand the importance of sleep for my looks." Gangolf declared almost as haughtily as Colleen.

"Your looks, your looks!" Billy yelled. "Is that all you ever talk about? Don't you have any other hobbies? You are seriously beginning to get on my nerves!"

Pank quickly grabbed him by the arm. "Calm down, Billy. Gangolf's just grumpy because he's obviously tired. We should really let him sleep. Lets go down to the common room and play. Rupert bring the cards. They're on my bedside table."

Gangolf pulled the blanket over his head until they were finally all gone. Stupid Billy. He could have lost a tooth, if the boy had hit him! Why did he have to share a dorm with such an aggressive lout?

 

Their first class on Wednesday morning was History of Magic with the Gryffindors. Dinah felt disappointed when she found out. She'd hoped for Hufflepuff where she already had friends, that she wanted to introduce to Anny, or Ravenclaw.

The Ravenclaws had seemed really nice, at least. From what she'd seen of them so far, she thought she and Anny could make great friends with Arnika and Shannon. The Gryffindors however were a much too unfriendly and boisterous group. Hadn't anyone ever told them to be nice to strangers?

Laura Warthay sneered at Dinah as she walked past her on her way in.

"Stupid wart face." Dinah growled under her breath, but Anny heard her anyway.

"It's not her fault what she looks like." she reminded her friend.

"No, but it is her fault that she isn't even trying to be polite." Dinah returned. "I'm really beginning to hate Gryffindors. Everybody keeps saying how perfect they are and that Harry Potter was a Gryffindor, and how Slytherins are so mean, but they're the ones that started sneering at us and all the Slytherins have been really friendly so far."

"Except for Colleen." Anny reminded her.

"Yes, she'd really fit in with the Gryffindors." Dinah grinned.

"I wonder what they'd do, if she went around telling them that they're icky." Anny giggled.

Professor Binns walked in through the wall only seconds later. He unfolded a piece of parchment and read out: "Corny, Wanda?"

"That's Carmey, Wendy." Wendy corrected.

"Nonsense." Professor Binns declared blinking closely at the parchment. "It clearly states Corny. Fouler, Charly."

"Oh great," Danny giggled. "A short sighted ghost!"

Dinah burst out laughing along with the rest of the class even though a small voice that sounded suspiciously like her grandmother was mumbling something about it not being nice to laugh about people who needed glasses.

"Halber, Alletta?" Binns continued. "Kay, Donald? Potter-Handers, Sonja-Mariah ..."

"Um ... Professor, could it be that you have the wrong list?" Sophie-Marleen asked. "I'm unfortunately not related to Harry Potter in any way."

"Nonsense." Binns insisted. "This is the list Professor McGonagall gave me. She wouldn't make a mistake like that. Now quit stalling. Qualling Timothy? Souder Olivia?"

"That's Sanger, Oliver, Professor." Oliver Sanger protested. "Trust me, I'd know, if I were a girl."

"The list says your name is Olivia and the list is never wrong. Maybe your parents made a mistake in your birth certificate." Binns graciously allowed. "Tants Colinus? Walley Eileen?"

"Well, at least for Warthay it's a compliment." Colleen sneered.

Several Gryffindors jumped up in outrage.

"Please children, sit back down. We aren't done, yet." Binns said mildly. "Xavier, Barthemia?"

The Gryffindors blinked at him in disbelief and apparently forgot their anger in their surprise. One by one they sat back down while Binns continued inventing his students list.

"Aitebertt, Patricius?"

Pank just sighed and raised his hand. "Whatever."

"Boulers, Christoph?"

"That's Gangolf, Sir, not Christoph." Gangolf almost pleaded. This was the first time Binns hadn't even gotten the first letter right.

"It clearly says Christoph on my list." Binns insisted. "Larder, Dorah?"

"Here." Dinah confirmed agreeably. It was probably the best strategy to humour ones teachers and if Binns ever sent a letter of complaint home to the parents of Dorah Larder, that was no concern of Dinah Laxter's, right?

Most of her classmates followed her and Pank's example and accepted whatever Binns named them.

With one noteworthy exception:  
v "Naketer Cordelia?" yelled back at Binns for almost five minutes and only stopped when she realised that the teacher was simply ignoring her and continuing to read out his list.

History of Magic, Dinah soon realised, was the most boring subject ever. The Gryffindors soon took to blowing spit balls at the Slytherins, though, and the resulting exchange of projectiles and insults served to keep the class awake. Gryffindors really were scum, Dinah decided. The little voice in her head that tried to remind her that Danny and Tullia sticking their tongues out at Laura and Sophie-Marleen might have had something to do with it was so weak that she easily ignored it.

 

A seventh year prefect led them out to the glasshouses for Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Dinah beamed when she saw that they were early enough to give them a little time to talk to the Hufflepuffs before class.

"Hi Hermy, Corinna!" she called out to the two girls she'd known almost her entire life. "How are you doing? How's life in Hufflepuff?"

"Oh, it's absolutely fabulous!" Hermelindis Berring answered. "Our common room is so cool. There's an art corner and a needleworks corner and ..."

"What's wrong with you, though?" Corinna Zander demanded in a much more serious tone.

"Yeah, Dinah, Slytherin?" Nigel Rouen added. "How could you?"

"It's not Dinah's fault." Hermy defended her.

"Yes, the hat might have made a mistake." Carmelitta Weasley agreed. Maybe the poor girl would have preferred Gryffindor after all?

"I don't think so. It said I had a better chance to realise my potential in Slytherin." Dinah said. "I guess it meant that I have the talent to be cunning, if I try."

"But the Slytherins are all so mean and scary." Corinna looked around nervously. "How will you get by all alone in the snakes' nest?"

"Alone? Scary? What are you talking about? Slytherin is wonderful. Only Nocturne's a little bitch. Here, meet my friend Anny. She's really cool."

Cam Weasley looked doubtful. "She's a Slytherin. Probably some pureblood fanatic."

"Are you Hufflepuffs or prejudiced Gryffindors?" Dinah demanded angrily. "She's Muggle born and Tullia's part mermaid for crying out loud. I thought you were raised to know better than to judge people by the house they're in." She glared at her old friends.

Cam blushed. "Uh ... well, I ... I was raised by Gryffindors, you know. I didn't mean to offend anyone."

"Well, next time think before you say things that might hurt someone." Dinah blushed as well when she realised how much she sounded like her mother.

"Sorry," Cam said again, then held out her hand to Anny. "Friends?"

Anny accepted the hand after only a second of hesitation. "Friends."

"Ah excellent, I see you're already getting acquainted." a woman Dinah assumed had to be Professor Sprout smiled at them. "In order to give you a chance to get to know each other better I want you to work in groups of four today."

Dinah immediately stepped closer to Anny, Danny and Tullia.

"Oh, no no no. Not that way." Professor Sprout laughed. "I want each group to consist of one girl and boy from each house."

For a moment everybody stood staring at each other, then the Hufflepuffs reacted. Mel Eagle and Jonathan Yeel were the first two that stepped forward.

"Hi, do you want to work with us?" Mel asked Tullia probably picking her at random.

"Sure." Tullia smiled a little uncertainly, but Pank pushed Rupert forward towards the group.

After one last longing look at Anny, Dinah walked over to Hermy who had already paired up with Jorge, the Spanish boy. The poor kid looked a little confused at being separated from Jonathan.

She heard Anny introduce Billy and Cam to each other and Cam in turn say that their fourth was called Jean-Louis. If she didn't want to be settled with Mirrorboy, Dinah had to act fast.

"Hey Aterus!" she called out. "Want to work with us?"

Aterus beamed. He seemed a little shy, or at least unsure how to talk to people sometimes and was probably glad of the help. Pank certainly knew how to fend for himself.

Indeed the next time she looked up she saw Pank and Danny talking to her old friend Nigel and Laurissa. Poor Corinna and a boy whose name Dinah didn't remember had been left to deal with both Colleen and Gangolf. That wasn't likely to improve Corinna's opinion of Slytherins, but it couldn't be helped. Somebody had to work with them.

"Jorge's father works for the Spanish ministry of magic." Hermy told them while they potted a sleeping forget-me-not. "He's been sent here as some sort of envoy, or something like that and brought his entire family."

"Two sister." Jorge nodded eagerly.

"He means he has two younger siblings." Hermy translated. "He showed us a picture. One sister. One brother." The last she enunciated very clearly at Jorge.

Jorge nodded again. "Juanita et Alfredo. Little." He demonstrated the size of his siblings with his hand. "Two sister little."

"No Jorge, it's: One little sister and one little brother." Hermy corrected.

"What brother?" Jorge asked.

"Alfredo." Dinah tried to explain. "Alfredo brother. Juanita sister."

"No, Alfredo et Juanita sister." Jorge insisted.

"Oh dear," Aterus sighed. "I think he mistook sister to mean sibling."

"Aterus sister?" Jorge asked. He definitely fit well into Hufflepuff already trying to socialise when he couldn't even say a single sentence, yet.

"No, no sister, no brother." Aterus answered. "I'm an only child."

"No sister?" Jorge looked a little sad, then patted Aterus on the shoulder. "Friend. Jorge Aterus friend."

Yes, Dinah definitely liked Jorge.

"Did you have to leave all your friends in Spain?" she asked.

Jorge looked at her quizzically.

"Your friends in Espania?" Hermy simplified the questions.

Jorge nodded. "Many friend." Then he mimicked writing and fluttered with his arms attempting to make hooting noises.

"Owl." Dinah translated fluttering as well. "You're going to owl your friends."

"Jorge owl friends in Espania." Hermy explained.

"Si, Jorge owl friend." Jorge beamed at his accomplishment of learning another word.

"Gee, at this rate he'll graduate before he learns proper English." Colleen sneered at them as she walked by holding an empty watering can between two fingers. "At least make him talk in real sentences."

"Water bad?" Jorge asked innocently.

"No, the water's just fine." Dinah assured him. "Colleen's just an idiot."

Jorge looked questioningly to Hermy.

"Colleen arrogant." Hermy promptly translated pointing at Colleen, then sticking her nose arrogantly in the air pretending to look down at the rest of the group.

Jorge looked at Colleen thoughtfully. "Arrogant." he repeated. "Colleen arrogant. Colleen no friend?"

"No, Colleen doesn't have any friends." Aterus confirmed. "Nobody likes her."

"Maybe Jorge Colleen friend, Colleen no arrogant?" Jorge wondered.

Dinah shook her head decisively. "Colleen bad. Death eater."

"Death eater." Hermy repeated drawing a little circle on her forearm with her finger. "Voldemort." she whispered.

Jorge paled and nodded. "Jorge no like Colleen."

They went back to work, but Dinah noted that Hermy kept shooting covert glances at Colleen.

"Are you sure about her?" she asked after a while. "I mean, she was only a child when the war ended. She probably can't even remember him."

"The Nocturnes just barely got away back then." Dinah whispered back. "And you should hear the way she talks. Trust me, Colleen is bad news. She can't get along with anyone."

"She hasn't actually hurt anyone, though." Aterus reminded her.

"She tried to hex Danny." Dinah shot back. "She'd have hurt her, if the spell had worked."

Aterus lowered his eyes and continued to work in silence. He never said much, Dinah noticed. She wondered whether that had anything to do with his not having had contact with other children before. Such a life must be horrible, she thought. Children needed other children her mother had always told her, even if they didn't always get along.

Despite the nice company Herbology was rather boring, though. Dinah didn't understand why it had been her mother's favourite subject. So far she certainly preferred Potions and Charms. At least there she got to do some real magic.

"What's next?" Tullia asked as they left the glasshouse.

"Lunch." Pank answered right away. "And afterwards we could go to the library again and do homework."

"We've got all day for that." Danny returned with a frown. "We should do something fun instead."

"We could come back out here and explore the grounds." Dinah suggested. "I bet there are wonderful places to play around here."

"Yes, I'd really like to meet the merpeople in the lake." Tullia agreed.

"You're not planning to go swimming in this weather, are you?" Rupert shuddered.

The weather wasn't actually bad, but the wind was a little chilly. It was already September after all.

"Of course not." Tullia confirmed. "I'll just stick my head in."

"Into the cold lake?" Dinah asked in disbelief. "What would your mother say?"

Tullia shrugged. "Nothing. Why would she say anything?"

"Because you're going to catch cold, if you run around with wet hair in autumn." Dinah informed her.

"Nonsense." Tullia shook her head. "Back at home Dad and I talk to the merpeople all year round and I never get sick."

"You stick your heads into the lake in the middle of winter?" Anny gasped.

"Of course you have to cut a hole into the ice first." Tullia explained. "And then you need an anti freezing charm for the way back or your hair turns into icicles. Dad says they take your hair with them when they break off."

Dinah suddenly felt very cold and quickened her pace towards the huge doors. A nice warm meal would be just the thing right now.

Soon they arrived in the crowded hall and sat down in their usual seats.

"What did the house elves do to the soup today?" Dinah heard a second year complain. "Throw in a whole pack of pepper?"

Dinah regarded her soup a little doubtfully. A lot of people at the Slytherin table had pushed theirs aside. None of the other houses seemed to have any complaints about it, though.

"It's probably another Gryffindor prank." another second year commented.

The first years exchanged a look and unanimously decided to bypass the soup and go straight for the main course.

"It's noodles!" Colleen shouted loud enough to draw stares despite the noise level caused by over a hundred students chatting over their meals. "Common, stupid noodles with some weird sauce. There isn't even any meat in it!"

"It's called spaghetti and the sauce looks like it's cheese." Billy stated rather unimpressed.

"Yep," confirmed Anny who'd already tried a bite. "Spaghetti in cheese sauce. Delicious."

"And that's supposed to be edible?" Colleen sneered.

"Of course it's edible." Danny snorted. "You just have to roll them around your fork like this and then you put them in your mouth, chew and swallow."

"It's Italian." Gangolf tried to be helpful. "You know, foreign food?"

"It looks hopelessly common." Colleen declared haughtily. "I'd much prefer something French."

"I'd give you a French kiss, but you're not my type." one of the second year girls glared at her. "Now either eat or starve, but shut up. I'd like to enjoy my meal."

"Why you rude ..." Colleen started fumbling for her wand.

"Ms Nocturne!" Professor Snape had once again appeared out of nowhere. Hadn't he been sitting at the staff table last time Dinah had looked up? "Please refrain from cursing your housemates or I will have to give you another detention. Is there something wrong with your soup?"

"The Gryffindors put something in it." the second year reported right away. "Tastes like pepper."

"Did you see them do it, Claire?" Snape asked calmly.

"No, but it must have been them." Claire insisted.

"Must have won't suffice for the headmaster." Snape answered. "We'll get back at them in the Quidditch game. Just leave the soup. The rest of the food is fine, I trust?"

"Delicious." Danny confirmed.

"Icky." Colleen insisted.

Snape raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's common. Not even any meat in it."

"Then eat your salad and pudding." Snape declared. "It's no reason to curse people."

Colleen glared after him as he left. "They are not feeding us properly." she complained softly enough to be sure that he couldn't hear her.

"To be honest, Colleen, I think the problem is that you're too picky." Dinah confided. "You haven't even tried your spaghetti. Maybe if you do, you'll find that they aren't all that bad after all. Look, everybody else loves them."

"They're for common Mudbloods and Hufflepuffs like you." Colleen declared. "I'm used to higher standards. And who gave you permission to call me Colleen anyway? It's Ms Nocturne to rabble like you."

Dinah closed her eyes and silently counted to ten. One should not hit or curse ones classmates.

"You know something?" she hissed out between clenched teeth once she felt she had herself sufficiently under control. "You're just not worth the effort. Why don't you just leave and go back where you came from? Nobody here likes you anyway."

"You just don't know how to appreciate class." Colleen returned coolly.

"In that case the entire school doesn't." Danny stated. "Get lost, Nocturne. You just don't fit in."

"But first give me back my hair band." Anny suddenly spoke up to Dinah's surprise. "It's a Muggle item anyway so I don't see why you're wearing it in the first place."

"You lent her your hair band?" Dinah asked incredulously.

"No, she stole it. I just didn't want to make a big fuss over it, because it isn't really worth much. It's part of a pair, though, so I'd really like it back." Anny stated and went back to eating her spaghetti.

The other girls all glared at Colleen who took refuge in picking at her salad.

"Well, I for one like the spaghetti." Aterus said into the sudden silence. "They may be difficult to eat, but they're very tasty."

"You mean you've never had spaghetti before either?" Billy asked incredulously.

Aterus had stuffed a forkful of the noodles into his mouth after his comment so he just shook his head while continuing to chew.

It certainly looked like it was true, Dinah thought. Aterus was fighting quite a battle with his noodles always either accidentally dropping them from the fork on the way to his mouth or picking up too many at once and having problems stuffing them in.

"Don't wizards eat spaghetti normally?" Anny asked.

"My Mum makes them with tomato sauce at least once a month, but we have a lot of Muggle friends." Dinah admitted. "Maybe she learned the recipe from one of them."

"We eat them at home as well, but we live very much like Muggles." Billy explained. "There are a lot of squibs in our neighbourhood and everyone in my family went to Muggle university. Dad could have learned the recipe anywhere."

"Professor Snape?" Gangolf stared at him open mouthed. "He cooks?"

"We all do." Billy confirmed. "It's not that different from brewing. Dad is the one who makes spaghetti the most often, though. Usually with vegetables."

"Our oldest house elf makes them with little meat balls." Pank added. "She came from Italy with my great grandmother, though, so it's not surprising she'd cook Italian food."

"You're lucky, then. Italian food's the best." Rupert commented. "We usually only have it when we go out for dinner or Mum doesn't have time to cook and calls the Muggle pizza delivery."

"My Mum makes them with fish and water plants." Tullia reported. "But then my Mum makes almost everything with fish."

"I had no idea there are that many ways to make spaghetti." Dinah said. "That's enough variations to have them for lunch every day in a week without getting bored."

Colleen shuddered and turned away from the conversation, but Dinah and the others hardly noticed. They were much too busy eating and discussing the different spaghetti recipes.

 

A/N: Will Jorge learn to speak in proper sentences? Will Colleen ever approve of any of the food at Hogwarts? And will Gangolf learn how to avoid being picked on by the older students?

 

In the next chapter: Tullia is trying to adapt to life away from home. Rupert is worried about his secret and Gangolf keeps getting on Billy's nerves!


	8. Thinking of Home

Chapter 8: Thinking of Home

 

"So how are you going to do this?" Danny asked Tullia when they reached the lake. "Wade in until the water's deep enough to stick your head in?"

"No, that way I'd get my clothes all wet." Tullia shook her head.

Rupert silently had to agree with her. It was much too cold to run around in soaked robes.

"There!" Tullia pointed at a tree next to the lake. "That branch is perfect."

Indeed there was a thick branch that hung low over the water. Rupert supposed that he'd be able to climb it quite easily, but a girl?

Tullia didn't let the doubtful faces of some of her classmates stop her. She ran over to the tree, hopped onto the branch and crawled forward as far over the water as it would let her go.

Rupert quickly closed his eyes waiting for a scream or splash as she pushed herself over the side. When none came he cautiously opened one eye again and found Tullia dangling from the branch by her legs while her head was indeed under water.

And there it remained! When was she planing to come up for air?

"How long can one hold ones breath like that?" he asked Pank.

Pank grew a little pale. "I don't know. Tullia! Hey, Tullia!"

The whole group dashed to the tree yelling for the girl.

Tullia reluctantly pulled her head out just far enough to answer them. "What?"

"How do you breathe down there?" Pank demanded.

"Why, through my gills, of course." Tullia declared as if it were the most natural thing in the world and returned her head into the water.

"She has gills." Pank stated incredulously.

"Oh, just wait until Colleen finds out." Danny laughed. "That'll be hilarious!"

"Why, what are gills?" Gangolf asked while examining the mud that had gotten on his shoes with disgust.

"Gills are little slits through which fish breathe water." Aterus provided. "Creatures that can breathe both air and water have gills as well as lungs and are called amphibious."

"Aren't amphibia supposed to be cold blooded?" Anny asked a little doubtfully.

"Merpeople have gills and are warm blooded." Aterus stated. "I guess that's where Tullia got it from."

"Cool." Billy declared. "That must be really useful."

"Whatever would it be good for?" Gangolf sneered. "I think it's ugly."

"You didn't even know Tullia had gills until she told us!" Danny hissed.

"Whatever is going on here? Ms Waterwall, get back here at once!" McGonagall was standing behind them and she looked furious. "Whatever do you think you're doing here?"

"I was only talking to the merpeople." Tullia had pulled herself back up and was now sitting on the branch again wringing out her hair.

"With your head in the water in this cold? And from that slippery tree branch? Are you out of your mind? That's much too dangerous." McGonagall yelled.

"I can swim and I don't feel cold at all." Tullia insisted. "I know a perfectly good drying charm, if my clothes get wet."

"She has gills, too." Aterus tried to help. "So she can't drown."

"Wingardium leviosa!" McGonagall announced and with a little yelp of fear Tullia was magically plucked from her tree and floated back onto dry land with her eyes tightly closed. "There. Now get back inside and to your next class. Ms Waterwall, you'll serve detention with me tonight and you will stay at least half a metre from the lake from now on."

"But the merpeople!" Tullia gasped. She looked slightly pale after her floating experience.

"The merpeople belong in the lake and we belong on dry land. Why really, talking to the merpeople! What nonsense."

"It's not ..." Tullia started, but McGonagall cut her off.

"Back inside, I said. Now!"

Dejectedly they trudged back to the common room.

"But Professor Snape said I could talk to them." Tullia mumbled as she curled up in a chair by the fireplace.

"At least we can have the good chairs for once." Rupert declared trying to cheer the group up. "We could play exploding snap again."

With all the higher years in class the common room practically belonged to them for the afternoon and despite Tullia's unhappiness Rupert was feeling rather good right now.

He was slowly beginning to relax and feel at home among his classmates. His mother had been right. Nobody here knew about his father's embarrassing secret. As long as he didn't tell them nobody would laugh at him and he would be accepted just like everybody else.

"You were right, Billy." Tullia said suddenly. "McGonagall is the meanest of the teachers."

"She was only worried about your health." Dinah tried to defend the teacher. "She probably doesn't even know you're part mermaid."

"Maybe, if we ask Professor Snape he'll explain it to her and she'll let you talk to the merpeople after all." Rupert suggested. "And she can't forbid you from going into the lake in summer."

"But summer is ages away." Tullia argued. "I miss my friends right now."

"Those aren't the same merpeople, though." Pank reminded her.

"No, but at least they are merpeople."

"I miss my friends, too." commented Billy. "I bet we all do."

"That's it!" exclaimed Dinah. "Lets all tell each other about our friends back at home. That'll help us get to know each other better and it'll feel like they aren't all that far away."

"Oh yes!" Anny nodded eagerly. "We could play Spin the Bottle. Does anyone have an empty bottle?"

They exchanged some confused looks. Whatever was Spin the Bottle?

"Will an empty glass do?" Aterus asked. "I could get one from the bathroom."

"No, how could a glass point at you?" Anny shook her head.

"Point at you?" Now Rupert felt even more confused. "What does that bottle do in Spin the Bottle?"

"It's like Wand Turning, only without magic, so you need a non magical object instead of the wand." Danny explained.

"Why do it without magic?" Billy asked. "Lets play Wand Turning."

Cheers went up all around and suddenly Rupert felt nervous. He'd always wanted to play Wand Turning and never had had anyone to play with, but did his first time have to be about friends back at home? He didn't have any to talk of.

"Okay, whose wand should we use?" Danny asked.

"Mine." declared Pank and laid it in the middle of the table. "Now form a proper circle around the table, everybody, so the wand can pick you. Ready?"

"Yes!" several voices called out eagerly.

"Okay then: Tell me, who is your very best friend." Pank announced and sent the wand spinning.

It turned around several times, then finally stopped pointing and sparking at Anny.

"Why my very best friend is Dinah, of course!" Anny laughed.

"Hey, no fair!" protested Danny right away. "It has to be someone from home."

"Well, Pank said best friend." Rupert reminded her. If they'd let Dinah count, he could just say Pank was his best friend. That was true anyway.

"That's right." Pank confirmed. "My mistake. Lets change the question to: Who did you play with the most back at home?"

Anny thought for a moment. "I think Sally Andersen." she decided. "The other girls didn't like her much because she had differently coloured eyes and Mona claimed that that is a sign of madness."

"That's mean!" exclaimed Dinah.

"Yeah, didn't you beat her up for saying that?" Billy looked almost angry and Gangolf started and bumped into Rupert's arm.

"Ouch!" Rupert exclaimed more surprised than hurt. "What's the matter with you, Mirrorboy? You're causing a gap in the circle."

Gangolf blushed, mumbled a soft "Sorry." and returned to his place eyeing Billy suspiciously.

"Oh, come on Gangolf!" Pank rolled his eyes. "Billy isn't going to hit you."

"Or is your name Mona?" Danny teased.

"She had most of the class behind her." Anny shrugged. "We'd have lost that fight for sure. What next? Do I spin Pank's wand now, or do I use mine?"

"Pank's." Dinah explained. "And you have to ask a new question."

"Okay, who is your best friend outside of Hogwarts?" Anny asked and spun the wand.

It turned and turned and finally began to slow down in front of Danny. It'd stop at Billy ... no, Gangolf ... no ... please move on, move on ...

"Rupert!" Danny cheered.

Oh no, what could he say? Was he blushing? He thought he was. He didn't have any friends at home. All the children had only ever mocked him because of his father's stupid little accident.

"Well ... I ... I guess it would be Uncle Mik." Where had that come from?

"Uncle Mik?" Pank asked. "Whoever is Uncle Mik?"

Now he was blushing for sure. "He's my mother's retarded brother. He usually lives with his parents, but whenever they can't look after him they take him to our house. Uncle Mik can't really understand everything that goes on around him and he doesn't really know when not to do magic either, so it's not safe to leave him on his own. He can magically project the most incredible pictures, though, and I can tell him anything. He's a really good listener and never tells anyone."

"They gave him a wand even though he isn't capable of understanding about Muggle protection?" Dinah asked.

"Oh no, he's never used a wand. He just has a special gift for wandless magic." Rupert explained hastily. "Most retarded people have special talents to make up for their deficiency, Mum says."

Apparently that satisfied them and Rupert felt relief flood over him as he turned the wand once again. They were still his friends.

"My best friend's Tiger Tim." Billy answered right away. "He's almost two years younger than me, but very tall for his age and he's an excellent attacker in soccer. I usually had to play defender, though I'd much rather be keeper like my brother was."

Of course, cool kids like Billy didn't have to think about that question very long. Billy probably had more friends than he could count.

"Mum never let me meet any other kids, but we have a house elf child, Tolly. She's a bit weird, of course, like all house elves, but I loved playing with her anyway." Aterus said. "She always wanted to let me win, though and we had to play house elf and master at least once a day. And I never got to play the elf."

"What is a house elf anyway?" Anny asked. "You keep talking about them, but I've never seen one."

Neither had Rupert. "Right Aterus, can you draw us poor common folk a picture?"

Aterus got out ink and parchment, but the result was extremely disappointing.

"That's a stick figure at best." Danny complained.

"I'm no artist." Aterus hissed at her. "You draw one, if you're so much better."

As it turned out none of the children who'd seen house elves before could draw particularly well.

"In that case, you'll just have to wait until you see a real house elf." Pank decided. "There must be lots of them here at the castle."

"So where are they?" Anny asked looking around.

"Normally they spend most of their time in the kitchens." Dinah reported.

"And where are the kitchens?" Rupert asked getting up. He was feeling adventurous all of a sudden.

"Somewhere on this level as far as I know." Billy shrugged. "Probably more in the center of the castle."

"Okay," Rupert smiled at them. "Come on Anny, we're going to find ourselves a house elf."

"Wait, I'm coming with you!" Dinah jumped up.

"I thought you know what a house elf looks like?" Rupert asked her surprised.

"But Anny's my best friend." Dinah declared. "And how else are you going to know when you find one?"

"I don't know whether that's a good idea. What if you get lost?" Pank asked. "We should stay together."

"We can always ask a picture for the way." Anny told him.

"And there are no more classes today anyway." Rupert added. "The worst that can happen is that we're late for dinner, but we'll be back long before then, you'll see."

 

Rupert absolutely loved playing the leader, even if he didn't know where he was going himself. Maybe it had something to do with always having been an outsider until now. It was wonderful to finally have friends and he wanted to be useful and important to them. Then they wouldn't want to lose his friendship, if they ever found out who his father was.

"Maybe we should go back and ask Salazar to draw us another map." Anny suggested after a while of erring through corridors.

"No, we're too far away." Rupert insisted.

"We could ask one of the other pictures, though." Dinah commented.

"Good idea, but I don't think I've seen one anywhere near here." Rupert sighed. "This must be a completely out of use part of the castle."

"Maybe there's one in this corridor." Anny stepped around the next corner and bumped right into someone very tall. "Umph! Oh, I'm sorry Sir!"

The man glared at the three children. "And what are you doing out here during class hours?"

"We lost our way." Rupert assured him hastily. He looked so scary! "We didn't mean to bother you."

The man looked a little less angry at that. "Oh, you're first years, aren't you?"

Rupert nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"So what class are you supposed to be in right now?" he demanded.

"None, we have the afternoon off." Rupert answered stepping in front of the girls. He was the leader. He had to protect them.

"Then why aren't you in your common room?"

"We were looking for the kitchens, Sir." Rupert reported.

"Going to steal food, were you? The kitchens are off limits to students."

"Oh no, Sir." Anny stepped up beside Rupert. "We were just going to see the house elves. I so want to know what they look like."

"Anny's Muggle born, you see." Dinah explained hastily. "And I thought we'd be sure to find her an elf in the kitchens."

The man glared some more. "Very well. I'll let you see your house elf, but then you're going back to your common room. No sneaking into the kitchens."

"Yes, Professor." Dinah promised looking more chastised than Rupert had ever thought possible. "We really didn't know it was forbidden."

To Rupert's surprise the man almost smiled.

"I'm not a professor." He said. "I'm just plain old Mr. Filch, the caretaker."

"Oh, then you must know everything about house elves!" Dinah exclaimed. "We're really lucky to have found you."

Rupert could only watch in wonder how Dinah wound the scary old man around her little finger. She actually got him to invite them into his office, where he called upon a house elf not just to look at, but also to serve them tea and sandwiches.

"No more than one for each of you, so you don't spoil your appetite for dinner." Filch added in an almost fatherly tone.

While they were eating he told them all sorts of stories about his work with the elves and their ways.

"You have to understand their mentality." Filch explained. "They live for the appreciation they get from other people. Every little 'well done' means the world to them. For a little praise they are the most loyal and hard working creatures."

"So why do so many people beat their elves?" Rupert asked wide eyed.

"Because they don't want to bother with understanding them and because they don't fight back. The elves feel obliged to always forgive their masters, no matter what they do to them. They consider it part of their job."

"But I've heard stories of elves that betrayed their masters. What about those?" Dinah asked.

"Those masters are the very worst." Filch said sadly. "They never earned their elves' loyalty in the first place, even though a single word of praise would have sufficed. Such cruel people don't deserve to have a house elf in the first place. Always remember that even the lowliest servant deserves to know when he has done well. It can often mean more to him than all the money you give him to know that he is doing a good job."

 

Tullia and Danny went to Professor Snape's office right after the last class of the day was over. A group of older Gryffindors was rushing out of the Potions classroom as they passed and they had to squeeze themselves against the wall so they wouldn't get swept along.

The Ravenclaws in the class followed more slowly and the first years could move on.

They stopped just outside the Potions classroom.

"Well, go on in." Danny stopped right outside the door. "Tell him."

"You're not coming?" Tullia had hoped that Danny would be the one to tell Professor Snape. The Potions Master might be the nicest teacher she'd met so far, but this still was a little scary.

"It's not my place." Danny declared. "You'd better talk in private."

Tullia sighed. Of course Danny was right. What would Professor Snape think of her, if she let Danny talk for her in a matter like this?

She stepped through the door.

Professor Snape was sorting jars on his desk. Was this a bad moment to interrupt him or was he just cleaning up?

There was a huge pile of homework scrolls on the desk as well. Was that really the homework of just one class?

Tullia knocked softly on the door frame. Had the teacher even heard that?

Snape looked up.

"Tullia, come on in." he motioned towards a chair next to his desk. "Is something wrong?"

Tullia sat down and found that the pile of parchments was right in front of her nose. Maybe Professor Snape had placed all of today's homework essays together for marking?

"I ... Well, you said I could talk to the merpeople in the lake." she hesitated.

"Of course." Snape confirmed. "I'm sure they'd love to meet you. They rarely meet new people who speak Mermish."

Tullia nodded. "Yes, they were very excited when I first called out to them, but then Professor McGonagall saw me with my head in the water. She gave me detention and forbade to go near the lake. She just wouldn't listen when I tried to explain, so I thought ... Well, I thought that, perhaps, if you could tell her that I had your permission and that I have gills and can't drown ..."

Professor Snape nodded. "Of course, I'll clear it up over dinner. Professor McGonagall can be a little rash sometimes. She was probably in a hurry to get to her next class and had no time for long explanations. I'll handle it."

Tullia beamed. She'd never expected this to be so easy!

"Oh, thank you, Sir!" she exclaimed. "It was so nice to talk to them, almost like home." She blushed when she realised what she'd just said.

"Are you unhappy here, Tullia?" Snape asked right away. "Are your classmates giving you trouble?"

"Oh no, not at all. They're all really nice." Tullia assured him. "We've made fast friends."

"No quarrels with your dorm mates?" Snape pushed.

"Not yet." Tullia repeated, but then realised that that sounded too good to seem perfectly honest to the teacher. "Well, except for Nocturne. She doesn't seem to want to be friends with anybody, but that doesn't really bother any of us. You see Danny and I are really close and I think Anny and Dinah are, too, so we don't really need her."

"But you're still a little unhappy without the merpeople." Snape hinted.

"Well, I'm just so used to them from home. They've been part of my live for as long as I can remember. Living completely on land is just so strange to me. I'm not used to it."

"I'll see what I can do about that." Snape promised once again. "But please tell me more about your classmates. I'm a little worried for Anny. The transition from the Muggle world to Hogwarts is even harder than from living next to the merpeople."

"Oh, Anny is all excited about it. She's all over talking to the pictures and ghosts. Right now she's gone to look at the house elves with Dinah and Rupert." Tullia assured him. "I don't think she's missing her home any more than the rest of us."

"Ah yes, Rupert." Snape said and Tullia suddenly remembered how he had asked the boy why he hadn't gone to school in Ireland. "He's made friends with Anny then?"

Tullia nodded. "Oh, we all love Rupert. He's a lot of fun. I think he's best friends with Pank already."

"And Billy and Aterus are inseparable." Snape added. "That leaves Gangolf and Colleen. How do those two get along?"

Tullia shrugged. "Nocturne doesn't like anyone. The boys are doing their best to make Mirrorboy a part of the group, but I think he's afraid of Billy." She shrugged again. "I haven't the slightest idea why."

"What makes you think so?" Snape asked looking concerned.

"I don't know." Tullia admitted. "It's actually Danny who said he was afraid of Billy. She says he's always trying to keep other people between them and when Billy got angry earlier he jumped away, even though Billy wasn't even looking at him."

"Billy got angry? At whom?" Snape demanded sternly.

"Nobody. Just a story Anny told us about some Muggle girl who'd been mean to her friend. Billy said Anny should have hit her and Gangolf got scared." Tullia frowned. "Gangolf's a bit weird, if you ask me."

"Maybe he's a pacifist and doesn't like fighting." Snape suggested. "I'm sure he must be a clever boy, if he was sorted into Slytherin. Give him a chance."

"Of course, Professor. We're doing our best." Tullia assured him.

 

The two girls took a 'detour' over the Quidditch pitch on the way back. Danny had been wanting to get a look at it for a while, but Pank had always insisted that the group should stay together.

"Wow, those hoops are so high, just like on a real pitch." Tullia commented looking up from the center of the field.

"It is a real pitch." Danny sneered. "What did you expect?"

"It's a school pitch." Tullia reminded her. "For students. The one in primary school wasn't nearly as high."

"Primary school children play on toy brooms." Danny informed her. "The Hogwarts teams play on real professional Quidditch brooms and by the same rules as the league teams."

Tullia shuddered. "Quidditch just isn't for me. I'm uncomfortable enough on a toy broom. If I had been meant to fly, I'm sure I'd have been born with wings rather than gills."

"Wimp." Danny teased. "I'm definitely going to try out for the team next year. I love Flying."

Tullia shrugged. "Okay, I'm still better than you at underwater polo."

"Underwater polo?" Danny laughed. "How do you play that? Riding on dolphins?"

Tullia snorted. "Dolphins!"

"What's so funny about that?" Danny demanded.

"Dolphins live in the sea and need to come up for air regularly. Oh no, underwater polo is played on crabs, of course." Wasn't that the most obvious thing in the world? Apparently not. "I heard the Seapeople have a sport called dolphinracing, though. That's supposed to be played riding dolphins."

"What's the difference between Seapeople and Merpeople anyway?" Danny asked as they strolled back to the castle for dinner. "I mean, if you take a merman to the sea, is he a seaman then?"

"Of course not!" Tullia shrieked in horror. "You mustn't do that! It'd kill him!"

"Whoa, calm down, I meant, if he's apparated or portkeyed right out of the water into the water, of course."

"That's still murder! He'd suffocate slowly in the sea. The sea water would eat away his gills until he couldn't breathe anymore."

Danny stared at her. "Then, if you went swimming in the sea, it would destroy your gills as well?"

Tullia shook her head. "Not if I kept them closed the whole time. Unlike the Merpeople I also have lungs to breathe with when out of the lake. I've been to the sea before and even got water into my gills. At first it just burned a little, but after a few hours it started to hurt really badly and my Mum had to wash them out with lots of clean water. After that it hurt only a little and healed within a week"

"So what do the Seapeople do about that?"

"Nothing, their gills can't be hurt by salt water the way ours are. They can't live in lake water for very long either, though. I think they need large amounts of salt, or something like that."

"But I though they were related?"

"They are. Just like humans are related to chimpanzees. You're not able to live in a tree, either, are you?"

Danny nodded in understanding and seconds later Tullia forgot all about the discussion at the sight of the food on the house tables.

"Whatever is that?" She'd never seen the dish before.

Well, actually that wasn't quite true. She had seen it at the welcoming feast, but not paid it any attention with all the other delicacies around.

"What's what?" Danny asked filling her soup bowl.

"That." Tullia pointed.

Danny looked at her oddly.

"It's a steak." Billy supplied. "You know, beef?"

"Beef?" Tullia repeated. She'd heard about beef sometime. It was some kind of land animal once dead and turned into food ...

"Cow?" She asked. "Beef means cow, right?"

"Of course it means cow." Danny confirmed. "What's the matter with you?"

"Sorry, we just never eat cow at home, so I'm not as used to it as you are."

"We don't have beef very often either." Billy said stabbing viciously at his piece of meat.

Gangolf was trying to duck behind a plate full of salad in fear.

"What's wrong with you?" Tullia asked Billy. "The cow's already dead. You don't have to kill it."

"I know that." Billy grumbled.

"It's the Gryffindors." Dinah supplied. "Some third year idiot called him a teacher's pet, because his father's our head of house."

"Gryffindors suck." declared Colleen who for once seemed to actually be eating.

If Nocturne liked it, the steak couldn't be that bad, could it? Tullia helped herself to some soup.

"It's not just the Gryffindors." Billy complained. "Even our own second years say I boast about my father. I didn't even mention him! And the Ravenclaws keep mumbling about favouritism whenever they see me."

"So you wish you'd gone to West Hogsmeade after all?" Aterus asked glumly.

"Gone where?" squeaked Gangolf.

"The place we have Sports class." Aterus reminded him. "That's where Billy's brother teaches."

"My Mum says that's a bad school." Gangolf reported.

"Is not." Billy glared.

Gangolf ducked behind his salad.

"It's a public school." said Pank. "Not as exclusive as Hogwarts, but the students get to go home after classes so they're not completely separated from their friends at home. I bet they have a lot of Muggle born students."

"They have a lot of squibs, too." Billy added. "They're the only school that can teach them."

"Squibs?" Aterus asked. "But what can you teach a squib?"

"My brother teaches the magical students Potions and the non magical ones Chemistry, for example. They have Muggle Studies, French and Philosophy as mandatory subjects and DADA, Herbology and History of Magic like everybody else." Billy answered. "You'd have to ask Draco exactly how they do it. I've never been in one of their classes."

"You should eat something more than salad, Gangolf." Dinah remarked. "You're much too thin and the steak's excellent."

"It's surprisingly good for such a common dish." Colleen confirmed.

"Oh, shut up, Nocturne." Tullia snapped.

She definitely could not agree with the statement. Cow meat tasted like old shoes, she decided. She should have taken a second helping of the soup instead.

"Steak is much too fat and bad for your cholesterol levels." Gangolf announced. "Salad is healthy and will keep you nice and slim."

"You're in no danger of getting fat, Mirrorboy." Danny informed him, but Gangolf stuck to the salad.

Tullia heaped some more salad onto her plate as well. A small bite of steak on a mouthful of salad was bearable. If she managed to eat about half of her piece that was acceptable, she decided. Her mother always had made her eat half of the portion she'd served her as well, if she hadn't been hungry, or had disliked the food.

Professor Snape joined them a few minutes later.

"I have spoken with Professor McGonagall," he informed Tullia. "And you don't have to serve the detention."

Tullia beamed at him. "Thank you, Professor!"

But Snape held up his hand to stop her. "However despite the fact that she understands your wish to honour your heritage, she insists that you have to stay away from the lake."

"But ... but why?" Tullia couldn't believe it. She'd been okay with serving the detention, if only she got permission to speak with the merpeople again.

"Professor McGonagall fears that, though there is no danger to you, it might endanger other students. She thinks, if they see you with your head under water, they'll try to imitate that, fall in and drown." Snape explained. "As vice headmistress, I'm afraid, she has the authority to overrule my permission, in matters concerning the whole school."

"But how does Tullia talking to the Merpeople concern the whole school?" Danny demanded. "It's a matter between Tullia and the Merpeople."

"Well, due to Professor McGonagall's fear that other students, who don't have to necessarily be Slytherins, will imitate Tullia, it's a matter of the safety of all houses."

"Who'd be stupid enough to hang their head into the water from a tree brunch, if they can't swim?" Billy grumbled.

Severus shrugged. "Well, I honestly can't see anybody in our house doing it. I doubt a Ravenclaw could be that stupid or a Hufflepuff so daring, which leaves only the Gryffindors. I wouldn't have expected them to be so foolish either, but Professor McGonagall is their head of house and knows them best. Apparently she does see a risk there."

"The Gryffindors again?" Danny groaned. "I hate Gryffindors!"

"Yes." grumbled Dinah. "First they insult us all the time, then they make fun of Gangolf, spoil our food, bother Billy and now they're keeping Tullia from her friends. Why isn't anybody doing something about it?"

"The fight between Slytherin and Gryffindor is an honoured tradition." Snape explained. "But please keep in mind that both the headmaster and the vice headmistress are Gryffindors and when in doubt will decide in favour of their own house."

"But that's not fair!" Dinah exclaimed.

"Life isn't fair, Dinah." Snape stated calmly. "There are people, especially in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor who'll say that God sees to it that the world is fair to everybody, but they are deceiving themselves. It's comforting to believe, of course, but if you want to be successful in life and fulfil your ambitions, you have to know and accept, that there is always an imbalance. Once you knows in whose favour and disfavour the situation is, you can adapt your actions accordingly."

"And if I don't know?" Anny asked sounding a little intimidated.

"Then you'd better not take any risks. Stay in the background until you have fully scouted out the situation." Snape advised. "The biggest advantage we have over the Gryffindors is that they never stop to think before they act. They'll run right into obstacles, that we can easily go around by just looking ahead a little. Gryffindors always make a fast start, but don't let that fool you into abandoning caution and dashing after them. Slytherins usually reach the goal first and much less out of breath."

"But how do we get them to leave us alone?" asked Dinah.

Snape looked at her. It seemed almost as if he'd never heard that question before and had to think about it.

"They won't." he finally said. "No matter what you do, you're still Slytherins. You'll always be their favourite target."

"Isn't there a way to stay away from them?" Gangolf pleaded. "Places they won't go, for example?"

"The common room of course." Snape answered. "They can't get into Slytherin house itself."

"But the classes and bathrooms ..." Gangolf blushed.

"Well, you can't expect them to change our schedules so we don't have lessons with Gryffindors anymore." Pank stated reasonably.

"I just want to be able to use the bathroom in peace." Gangolf declared. "Today they wouldn't even leave me alone to take a look in the mirror and straighten my hair."

"You could have just used your mirror spell on one of your books." Danny stated practically.

"Or waited to use the bathroom next to our dorm." added Pank.

"Really Gangolf, you don't need to check your hair twenty times a day. Once or twice is quite enough." Billy was apparently trying to be patient, but Gangolf took it the wrong way and ducked behind his salad once again.

Snape watched the exchange with obvious interest.

"Billy, I think we need to talk." he announced as he got up and Billy pushed away his empty plate and trudged after him.

Tullia stared at the still much too big piece of steak on her plate. She pushed it about with her fork for a while.

Stupid wizarding food. Stupid Gryffindors. Stupid Professor McGonagall.

At the head table the vice headmistress was happily chatting with the headmaster. Another Gryffindor. Neither of them cared that a little Slytherin part mermaid was missing her home, family and friends.

 

A/N: Will Tullia get over her homesickness without the merpeople? Will the Slytherins like Minerva? And just what did Rupert's father do that is so embarrassing?

 

In the next chapter: A look inside Danny's head, if I can pull it off. We get to know Aterus a little better and Billy is trying to deal with the other houses' teasing.


	9. Flying, Quidditch and Other Offers

Chapter 9: Flying, Quidditch and Other Offers

 

It was a strange feeling to share a bedroom with others, Aterus thought. He'd always wanted to have lots of other children around him, but sometimes this felt too close. It was amazing how easily Billy, Pank and Rupert had taken to it.

Then again maybe it was all due to his isolated childhood so far. He was always nervous that he might say or do something wrong. Just how did one behave among other children?

"Come on, Gangolf! We'll be late for breakfast again!" Pank was once again banging on the bathroom door, even though the others were still straightening out their robes.

And once again the usual answer came from inside the bathroom: "I'm not done, yet. Go on ahead. I'll catch up."

"You're part of the group, Gangolf." Pank returned. "I don't like the idea of you walking around all on your own. The Gryffindors could catch you."

Gangolf seemed to give that danger a little more thought. Gryffindors were dangerous. That much Aterus had already figured out as well.

"Not down here in the dungeons." Gangolf finally answered. "They have no reason to be here this early in the morning."

"I hope you're right." Pank sighed then turned to the rest of the boys. "Ready? Then lets go."

Aterus wondered whether he'd find the way to breakfast on his own at all as he and Billy trudged after Pank and Rupert as they had been doing every morning.

"Why do we always do what Pank says anyway?" he asked his friend softly.

"Because every gang needs a leader." Billy stated as if that were obvious.

Maybe to him it was.

"We're a class not a gang." Aterus pointed out.

"There's safety in numbers." Billy explained. "The houses are like the gangs back at home. Slytherin and Gryffindor have been at war for over a thousand years. Only if we stick together and have a strong leader can we fight back properly."

Aterus didn't know much about war and even less about gangs, so he decided to just accept that answer. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Billy. If only he knew a tiny little bit more about the world!

The girls were already there when they arrived in the great hall. Even the Nocturne girl was sitting at the table taking tiny elegant bites out of a piece of toast. She didn't greet any of them, though.

"Latin's first this morning." Tullia announced happily after finishing the last of her porridge. "I like that class."

"Do you all have your homework?" Pank asked at once.

Rupert groaned and swatted at him with his toast. "We did that together, remember?"

"The second lesson's Transfigurations, though." Dinah remarked. "The Gryffindors again."

"And McGonagall." Tullia frowned. "I hate Transfigurations."

"Well, cheer up a little, because it's our first Flying lesson right after lunch." Danny announced.

"Really?" Aterus could barely contain his excitement. "I've always wanted to fly."

"You mean you have never sat on a broom?" Danny asked incredulously.

Oh no, was that the wrong thing to say?

"Well, neither have I." Anny stated calmly. "They can't expect us to already know how, can they?"

"Of course not." Pank declared. "You're not the only muggle born student at this school. Where should any of you have had the chance?"

"I've never flown yet, either." Billy admitted. "Draco once suggested to buy me an old training broom, but Mum forbade it. She said it would only make the other children jealous and hurt the squibs' feelings, if they couldn't even borrow it for a ride."

"My mother thought it was too dangerous." Aterus admitted. If Billy could tell them that he'd never flown so could he, right? "You know how much she always worried about me. She just wouldn't led Dad buy me any toys that might cause me to fall. Not even a simple self rocking rocking horse."

"We had Flying and even Quidditch on training brooms in primary school." Tullia reported. "But I always hated it, so I never wanted my own broom."

"But at least you can fly already." Aterus sighed. "I'll probably make a fool of myself."

"Nah," snorted Danny. "Flying is easy, you'll see."

"Besides training brooms don't go very high or fast." Dinah added. "We'll probably still have enough trouble on real brooms."

"Not me." sneered Colleen. "I have a real top quality racing broom at home."

"So what?" Pank sneered at her. "I own a broom as well. It's nothing that grand."

"I was even on a Quidditch team back at home." Danny reported. "With my mother's racing broom."

"Pah, I bet that old thing went out of fashion before your mother started school." Colleen sneered. "I have the latest model."

"But can't afford a simple hair band." Anny stated to Aterus' surprise. "Or why are you always wearing mine?"

"Because you dirty sluts stole my hairpins." Colleen accused. "I can't quite run around without them until my mother owls me a replacement set and you're not using it anyway."

"Hey, who're you calling sluts?" Danny yelled.

"We didn't even touch your ugly pins." declared Dinah. "You misplaced them."

"Well, you might at least have asked." demanded Anny.

"I? Go begging from a filthy mudblood?"

"Your precious parents don't really care much about you, do they?" Aterus realised. "I've already had two owls from mine, and I didn't have any urgent needs."

Colleen dropped her half eaten toast onto her plate, grabbed her bag and stalked out of the great hall without even looking back.

"You know, that was mean." Dinah remarked to Aterus. "Maybe her parents simply live further away than yours, or their owl's old and slow."

"Sure." Pank snorted. "The Nocturnes would use a second rate owl."

"And they don't live that far from here." Aterus knew. "A strong owl could make it there and back in one day. Sending a small parcel shouldn't take more than two. A set of hairpins can't be that heavy."

"Maybe they didn't have one at home and had to go to the market to get it." Billy suggested.

Danny snorted. "You don't buy hairpins in the market, Billy."

"And people like the Nocturnes wouldn't be caught dead going into an ordinary shop." Dinah said. "They probably sent a house elf to a beautician's to order them custom made. That's what's taking them so long."

"Wherever is Gangolf?" Pank scanned the masses of students at the doors. "It's almost time to go to class."

Indeed most of the students seemed to be heading out rather than in, Aterus noted, and Mirrorboy was still missing.

"Do you think he remembers the way to Latin class?" Tullia asked. "I don't want to be late because of his stupid preening."

"He'll have to." the fifth year boy prefect walked up to them. "I have Transfigurations now so being late is not an option. Where's the Nocturne girl?"

"I think she went alone." Pank reported. "She already had breakfast and can find her way pretty well. It's Gangolf I'm worried about. He promised to catch up with us."

"Well, I can't wait and Professor Stylus won't eat him for being late anyway." the prefect declared. "Come on."

Aterus had to admit to himself that he too liked Latin, though the class's level was very far below his own. Of course he understood that not every wizard and witch learned the subject from his or her parents from the age of three as he had, but it was a little boring to watch Anny struggle with basics he could have done in his sleep. He wished this class would have been assigned by levels of advance knowledge rather than houses.

Jorge walked up to them as they set down a pile of parchments in his arm.

"Good morning, Aterus." he said almost fluidly.

"Morning, Jorge." Aterus returned with a smile.

He liked the Spanish boy. Jorge had it even harder than him making contact with the people around him and trying to fit in, but he was still doing his very best to make friends.

"Good morning Aterus friend." Jorge greeted Billy. "What you name?"

Billy blinked a little. He hadn't had a chance to talk with Jorge, yet, and apparently still needed to figure out his way of speaking.

"Billy." Aterus supplied. "My friend's name is Billy."

"Good morning, Billy." Jorge repeated proudly. "Aterus and Billy done homework? I collect." He held up the parchments he was carrying to demonstrate.

"Oh, that's an excellent idea, Jorge." Aterus praised. "Thank you."

Jorge proudly accepted their scrolls and continued to the next pair until he finally reached Colleen.

He hesitated, eyed her cautiously, but apparently decided that she wasn't going to kill him for wanting to collect her homework.

"Good morning, Colleen."

Colleen glared at him.

"I collect homework." he tried to explain.

"Oh, learn proper English!" Colleen threw her scroll at him the way Aterus' mother sometimes threw letters at her house elf when she was in a very bad mood.

Jorge smiled kindly anyway. "I try. Where?" he pointed at the seat next to her apparently unable to remember Gangolf's name.

Colleen shrugged. "Who cares?"

"Gangolf is late." a boy Aterus thought was called Alex explained enunciating every word very clearly.

"Late." Jorge repeated. "Gangolf. Gangolf late."

"Yes, exactly." Alex nodded pointing at his watch. "Gangolf is late. Professor Stylus," he pointed at the desk. "Will be angry."

Jorge looked at his own watch, then showed it to Alex. "Not angry."

"Two minutes." Alex held up two fingers. "That's not much time for Gangolf."

As if on cue the door opened and the Professor walked in. "Good morning class." he greeted them brightly.

Jorge walked up to him and held out his stack of parchments. "I collect homework. Not find Gangolf."

"Oh, thank you, Jorge. That's very nice of you. Gracias." Jorge beamed at that, but apparently the teacher had not understood exactly what he'd meant by his second remark as he started taking attendance.

Gangolf barged in half way through the Hufflepuffs.

"I'm sorry." he apologised. "I simply couldn't get my hair right this morning. It took me three applications of hair gel."

Billy rolled his eyes at Aterus. "I just can't believe that guy. He's worse than Pretty Ricky."

Aterus had no idea who Pretty Ricky was, but he did know that Professor Snape had admonished Billy to be nicer to Gangolf. Billy had complained about the injustice of that the evening before after Gangolf had gone to bed. After all he'd never done anything to the boy!

His father's stepping in hadn't exactly endeared Gangolf to Billy. That much was clear.

"Just be nice." Aterus whispered back to his friend. "Gangolf is part of the gang. You don't have to be best friends, but it'd be nice if we all got along."

Hopefully that was the proper vocabulary to express his feelings about the situation. He still didn't quite understand what a gang was and how it worked, but it was clearly very important to Billy.

"No problem." the teacher told Gangolf. "After all it's still the first week and it's only a minute after nine. Just put your homework on my desk and sit down."

Gangolf nodded meekly and obliged.

Sometimes Aterus felt sorry for the boy. He looked so small and lonely when everybody else paired up, but then talking to him was always so boring. The only topics Gangolf seemed to know were beauty products and his own greatness.

Billy was a lot more fun and Aterus wouldn't give up his friendship for anything. That made it hard to try to include Gangolf in any of his activities. He could only hope that Pank and Rupert would make up for it and keep Gangolf close.

Some of his classmates seemed to find today's Latin lesson a little more demanding than the first, but Aterus was still bored. His thoughts kept drifting off until even the teacher noticed and admonished him.

Aterus blushed and lowered his head. "Sorry, Professor, desolatus sum."

Professor Stylus smiled. He seemed to do that a lot. "I see. Please try to pay attention and maybe you can help out some of your less advanced friends sometimes. I'm sure you'll find this class more interesting once we're ready to move past the basics."

Aterus nodded and suppressed a sigh. Eight years of learning Latin were a lot of basics to catch up to. He wondered whether they'd reach that point at all in only seven years of Hogwarts.

At least he had Flying class to look forward to. Flying had to be great. He imagined soaring up to the clouds on a stylish broom ...

"Aterus, hey Aterus!" Billy was pushing his shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Latin's over Aterus." Billy reported. "We have to get to Transfigurations now."

Aterus sighed and got up. Much as he'd love to continue his dream not getting in trouble with McGonagall was more important. The stern Transfigurations teacher was scary, though he'd never dare admit it in front of his classmates.

Tullia immediately picked Colleen's seat in the last row when they arrived in the classroom.

"Hey, that's my place, Fishgirl!" Nocturne shrieked predictably. "Get out! I'm not sitting next to you. Better the shabby Gryffindor than a fish."

"You can have my seat." Tullia declared. "I'd rather take my chances with one small Gryffingirl than with the dragon herself."

Next to Aterus Billy snorted with suppressed laughter.

Aterus shot him a confused look. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Billy giggled as if under a tickling spell. "I'm just trying to imagine Nocturne sharing a desk with Danny for an entire hour."

"Huh? ... Oh!" Of course Aterus had noticed that those two didn't get along. Sometimes he just found it hard to make a connection between peoples' thoughts or feelings and their actions.

Hadn't Professor Snape said something about it being an advantage to be able to predict peoples' actions? Apparently Aterus still had a lot to learn, if he wanted to become a good Slytherin. People were so strange and complicated.

"Oh no!" Danny was shouting right now. "I'm not sitting next to that ... that thing! I'm moving back with you."

For a moment Nocturne just stood there apparently as surprised as Aterus, then without another word she placed her bag next to Gangolf.

Gangolf blinked and smiled at her.

"Don't start thinking I like you or anything, Mirrorboy." Nocturne snapped. "I just think anything's better than a Gryffindor."

"I sort of liked that Gryffindor, you know." Gangolf stated.

"What?" several outraged voices exclaimed.

It seemed liking a Gryffindor was not a good idea, if you wanted to remain friends with your fellow Slytherins, Aterus decided. He resolved to always say loud and clearly that he hated Gryffindors. That seemed to be welcome and acceptable behaviour.

"Well, better than her, in any case." Gangolf amended.

"Nocturne's still a Slytherin." Billy declared. "A Slytherin is always more trustworthy than a Gryffindor."

Gangolf eyed Billy doubtfully, but before the conversation could go any further the first group of Gryffindors stumbled in.

McGonagall wasn't too happy when she took attendance and realised that her seating plan didn't quite match the students in front of her.

"That's not the correct seating order." she stated accusingly.

Aterus ducked behind his book even though the Professor wasn't actually looking at him.

"Nocturne decided she doesn't want to sit next to a Gryffindor." Danny reported. "So she gets to sit next to Gangolf and the Gryffindors get seats together and in the front in return."

McGonagall frowned, but seemed to see the logic in that. "Very well, I don't want to see another house war in my classroom, so maybe it is better to keep the houses separate, but I will not tolerate any further seat switching. The seating order is now fixed like this for the rest of the year, understood?"

"Yes Professor." the class chorused while Aterus wondered whether it had been wise to remain this close to the front.

Maybe he could convince Billy to pick a last row desk next year?

 

That annoying Nocturne girl was actually eating, Danny noticed absently while putting another forkful of food into her mouth. It didn't really come as a surprise. Nocturne was confused, lonely and hungry. If the girl had been a little friendlier, Danny might actually have felt sorry for her. After all the arrival at Hogwarts had turned her whole world upside down. Everything Nocturne's parents had taught her was suddenly wrong.

Well Nocturne, that's life. Toughen up and learn, or get trampled. Danny predicted that Nocturne would choose the first option. She was strong and willing to fight.

Mirrorboy on the other hand was once again picking at the salad while admiring his reflection in his transfigured plate. Danny simply couldn't find a single redeeming quality in that boy. He was vain, cowardly, stupid and worst of all not even trying to fit in. The boys had really offered him all the kindness they could without looking like Hufflepuffs, but still Gangolf kept turning up late and leaving early every day. Danny wished Pank'd finally kick the cry-baby out the way he had Nocturne. She couldn't stand much more of this.

Pank was a good leader, though. A little too bossy for her taste, but fighting him would only break up the group and make them easier targets for the Gryffindors. Right now their larger number was their only protection against the much more splintered Gryffindors who usually showed up in groups of only two or three. As a group of eight - Gangolf didn't count as he'd probably just faint from fear if it ever came to a real fight - they had a clear advantage. Four girls alone might be easy prey for some of the bigger Gryffindors.

Tullia probably wasn't much of a fighter either. Danny had no doubt that she'd try, but she wasn't particularly strong, nor did she have much experience fighting. Tullia was cool for completely different reasons. Just imagine having gills and being able to speak two languages fluently!

In a fight Danny would much rather have tiny Billy at her side, though. Pank and Aterus might be much stronger, but Billy always tensed slightly at the first sign of a possible confrontation. Not nervously, as Rupert often did, but calmly, getting ready, not afraid. Clearly he had experience and would know how to hold his own in a fight.

Rupert was probably experienced as well. At the very least he recognised trouble as well as Billy did. He seemed like a child who'd been picked on, though, which led Danny to assume that he didn't know how to fight back successfully. Either he was a bad fighter, or his opponents had always been too overwhelming. The more confident Billy clearly got more trust from her, but Rupert would be her second choice.

And next? Not Tullia. Danny really liked Tullia, but in a fight she'd probably have to protect her more than get help from her.

Aterus clearly had no idea what to do in a fight. Pank would probably be alright, but didn't really give the impression of an experienced fighter.

Dinah might be a good fighter, if she got over her Hufflepuff inhibitions. Right now she seemed torn between her Hufflepuff upbringing and her Slytherin nature, though. Danny wasn't sure which would prevail, if she had to make a fast choice. Perhaps Anny was the better choice. The muggle born was quiet most of the time and sometimes even seemed timid, but Danny doubted that that was her real nature. Anny was holding back trying to assimilate her new surroundings. She probably had a few surprises in store for the group once she got used to the magical world.

Danny swallowed the last of her mashed potatoes and took another look at her classmates. Except for Gangolf they all seemed to have liked their lunch. Even Tullia who'd disliked the steak so much.

Danny had been a little worried about that. She didn't know for sure what Merpeople ate, but red meat was probably not a likely food underwater. Still Tullia wasn't showing any ill affects, so it probably really was a matter of personal taste and she'd be fine with other meat dishes.

"Oh, I can't wait to finally get to Flying class." Anny said. "It sounds so exciting."

"I can't wait until second year when we're allowed to try out for the Quidditch team." Danny returned. "That's real flying. Flying lessons probably will be boring."

"I don't know." Tullia sounded nervous. "Those brooms go terribly high up into the air, much higher than training brooms. Do you think we'll practise over the lake?"

"Thinking of jumping in to visit the Merpeople and calling it an accident?" Danny grinned. "I think McGonagall would see right through that, but maybe if you don't tell the Flying teacher about your heritage, you could get away with it."

"No, I just like to have water under me." Tullia didn't elaborate.

It wasn't necessary anyway. Danny had already noticed her fear of heights the day before. She might be fearless in water and on trees, but being levitated by McGonagall had scared her more than Danny had expected and she kept saying that she disliked flying.

Still Danny refrained from teasing her about it on the way back to the dorm even if it was hard. Tullia was her best friend and her habit of teasing people had lost her friends before. She'd resolved to stop that when she arrived at Hogwarts, but old habits were hard to break.

"I've never seen this many clubs offered at once before." a sixth year stated just as Danny stepped through the secret door to the common room.

The first years exchanged puzzled glances. There was a commotion next to the stairs.

"What's going on?" Pank asked one of the bigger students, but the boy ignored him.

Whatever everybody was so interested in was hidden by all the taller students.

Anny and Dinah tried to get a look by climbing the banister, but they weren't the first to have that idea either. All the good places were already claimed by second and third years. Danny didn't think they'd get anywhere like that. This situation called for a more direct approach.

"Hold my bag." she told Tullia shoving her book bag into her friend's hands, then elbowed into the masses.

"Danny!" she heard Pank call out, but didn't stop to answer.

For a moment it felt like it was impossible to breathe between all those tightly packed together bodies, but then she'd squeezed through the last two rows and it got a little easier. Some of the people here were already trying to get back out which caused the pressure to shift constantly. Danny was shoved, pushed, kicked and squashed, but she simply shoved, pushed and kicked back. You couldn't let these things impress you, if you wanted to succeed.

And Danny did succeed. It took her a little while, but she finally arrived in the very first row and found the center of the commotion. It was the message board which had been almost empty when they'd left the common room in the morning. Now it was covered in lists.

At first she didn't see what was so exciting about them. Who wanted to participate in a Chess club? Riddles club? Poetry, Acting, Ballet ... Quidditch team!

Some of these were interesting after all! Too bad the Quidditch list stated clearly that it was only for second to seventh years. The Duelling club accepted only third years and higher as well, but Danny thought she knew somebody who'd get all excited when he heard about the Soccer club looking to fill over twenty positions.

Maybe she should try applying as well? She knew very little about Soccer, but it might be better than nothing until she got onto the Quidditch team. There was time until Monday to sign up and Danny decided to just report her triumph to her classmates for now. In the evening the commotion would most likely have died down enough to sign up in peace and if not, they had Astronomy tonight. There'd be nobody here to get in her way at midnight.

She squeezed back out and tumbled out of the mass of shoving people out of breath, with her hair messed up and her robes wrinkled.

"Danny!" Tullia rushed to her side. "Are you alright?"

Danny laughed. "Of course. And I found out what it's all about."

"Really?" Dinah asked eagerly. "What is it?"

"Some club lists have been posted on the message board while we were gone." Danny announced.

"Club lists?" Rupert asked with a slight frown. "What are club lists?"

"They're bits of parchment on which you can sign up for clubs, stupid." Danny simply enjoyed the abashed look with which Rupert stared at the floor too much. He was so easy. "You know, like Quidditch and Soccer and things."

"Really?" Billy beamed. "Oh, I have to sign up for Soccer right away!"

"There's no time for that now." Pank interfered. "I'm sure the list will still be here after Flying class. We'll be late, if we try to fight our way through right now."

"It'll be here until Monday." Danny confirmed.

"Fine then take your bags to the dorms and meet up back here right afterwards." Pank ordered. "Hurry up people. You don't want to miss your first Flying lesson."

Danny raced up the stairs, threw her bag onto her bed and almost collided with Dinah on her way back out and down. Tullia was still on the stairs when Danny passed her.

"Come on. Maybe we'll get to fly more, if we're there early." Danny told her.

Tullia just sighed and trudged on.

Pank seemed to have sent their prefect guide away. They already knew how to get to the Quidditch pitch and once Gangolf finally arrived they set off.

"I can't believe Gangolf took this long to drop his bag." Danny attempted to distract Tullia who was in a bad mood. "How much further away than ours can the boys' dorm be?"

"He had to comb his hair and apply some beauty cream while he was at it." Billy muttered darkly. "And I'm not even allowed to say something about it anymore."

"What?" Danny blinked in surprise. "Why ever not?"

"Because my Dad thinks Gangolf's afraid of me and now I'm supposed to be nice to him." Billy continued in the same tone. "As if I hadn't been trying all this time."

An old man and a large group of children in green robes came out of a room just a few metres ahead of them.

"Ah, the Slytherin first years." the man stated when he saw them.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Filch." Anny and Dinah seemed to know the stranger.

Filch smiled a little. "Are you going to Flying class as well?"

"Yes, Mr. Filch." Dinah answered smiling sweetly. "We're so excited."

"Then could you show these students the way? It's their first time at Hogwarts so I can't quite leave them to find their own way."

"Of course, Mr. Filch." Dinah answered like a perfect little Hufflepuff.

Danny glared at the green robed intruders. It wasn't even a proper uniform they were wearing. Some of them had caps or scarves or necklaces. They weren't supposed to have Flying together with them, were they?

Some of the green robes glared back, but behind them two were happily chatting away with Billy.

"Hi, I'm Dinah and that's my friend Anny." Dinah smiled at the glaring strangers. "The Quidditch pitch is this way. Just up the stairs and then down the corridor and right, past the great hall and out the door. You can't miss it once you're outside."

"We're Slytherins." Anny added as they started walking again. "Where are you from? You don't look like Hogwarts students."

"We're not." the tallest girl answered. "We're from West Hogsmeade Wizarding School. We just come here for Flying classes. I'm Laila."

"West Hogsmeade?" Nocturne asked looking scandalised.

Oh well, maybe her behaviour towards her fellow Slytherins would improve after this, Danny thought. Shock therapy had always been one of her favourites.

"Never mind Colleen." she told Laila. "She always finds something she doesn't like about everybody she meets."

"Yes, we're all icky." Anny agreed.

"Call me Danny, by the way." The West Hogsmeade students didn't even look surprised at the use of a boys' name for a girl. Point for them.

"Maggie." the small girl next to Laila introduced herself.

They seemed like completely ordinary children, Danny decided as they continued to talk on the way to the pitch. Some were shy, some excited and talkative and some distrusting, just like her year mates here at Hogwarts. It was hard to believe that these were supposed to be the people her mother had always warned her about when they'd visited Hogsmeade.

'Don't go wandering off.' she remembered her saying. 'You might end up in West Hogsmeade where the bad people live.'

Well, the bad people looked suspiciously like a bunch of nervous children in green instead of black. Not exactly frightening especially after Danny secretly counted heads and found there were only twelve, two more than the Slytherins. If it came to a fight some of them would most likely be just as cowardly as some of their own and Danny was quite confident in her fighting abilities. No reason to worry.

Professor Hooch, as Danny thought she'd heard to Flying teacher be called, told them to each take a broom and form two rows of eleven students facing each other. Brooms on the floor.

Soon a green row was facing a black row. Only at the very end of the black line, next to Billy, Danny occasionally noticed a flicker of green whenever the wind caught the last boy's robe.

The teacher had two attendance lists, one for each school. The fist one was boring. Why really, couldn't she just count heads and be done with it? Danny didn't even remember how often she'd heard her house mates' names read out by now.

"Waterwall, Tullia!" Hooch finally finished.

"Here." Tullia answered with surprising patience.

Hooch flipped her parchments: "Ar ... Ar ... Ark ..."  
"Arhwke, Isran." the ugliest boy Danny had ever seen supplied. "Present."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Arha ..."

"Just call me Isran." the boy advised. "All my other teachers do. No need to learn Goblin for my sake."

For a moment the teacher looked doubtful, but then she nodded and continued with the next name on her list: "Bennett, Elsa!"

"Here." that was the girl right across from Danny who hadn't said anything so far.

Either she was a naturally quiet child, or that was her way of dealing with her nervousness.

"Carter, Josh!" Hooch called out. "Not Joshua?"

"Of course it's Joshua, but nobody ever calls me that. Much too long and stuffy."

"I see." Hooch said, but didn't look like she meant it. "Coursett, ... Dally?"

"Yes, that's me! I'm here!"

Oh dear, that one was really hyper. Danny remembered her talking to her friend non-stop on the way here as well. She really hoped that was just first flight nerves. If not, Dally would be impossible to bear for the entire year.

"Doran, Maggie!" was much more dignified, Laila's last name was ElKouan, which made Danny wonder whether she was even really British, "Fowler, Mik!" was a short form of Michael and the invisible boy next to Billy was 'Harson, Jimmy!', not James or even Jim, definitely Jimmy.

Dally's best friend was called 'Hawke, Ilsa!' and then there were 'Lasalle, Jenna!', 'Lorat, Angie' and finally 'McKay, Todd!'

"Here." Todd had to say twice before Hooch heard him.

How could such a tall boy be this timid?

"Alright then, class. Hold your hand over your broom and say 'up'."

"Up." The shabby school broom flopped into Danny's hand nicely.

A glance up and down the row revealed that that was a rare occurrence, though. Pank, Colleen and Dinah were the only others who managed on their first try.

"Oh, come on, Tullia." Danny rolled her eyes at her friend. "Quit pretending. We all know that you've already had Flying lessons before."

"Those were training brooms." Tullia protested.

"They're activated just the same as real brooms, though." Danny stated.

"Up!" Tullia sighed and indeed her broom rose into her hand, though a little hesitantly.

That was interesting, Danny thought. Apparently the broom's response was influenced by the will of the user more than the command. Meanwhile Rupert, Dally, Laila and Isran had managed as well.

Elsa looked at Danny pleadingly. Danny shrugged.

"You've never done this before, have you?" she asked.

Elsa shook her head.

"Well, you've got to really want it." Danny declared.

"I do." Elsa promised. "Up."

"Try to say it more forcefully." Isran advised.

"And try to imagine how it flies into your hand." Tullia added.

"UP!" Elsa roared suddenly and the broom was in her hand before they knew it.

Flopp! Gangolf sat on the ground staring at Elsa wide eyed.

"Are you having problems with your broom, dear?" Professor Hooch looked down at him with a touch of confusion in her eyes.

"Elsa's shout startled him and he tripped." Billy reported. "Come on, Gangolf, you can do it. Try again."

Gangolf climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off, then blushed as he noticed that everybody else was holding their brooms and staring at him.

He gingerly held out his hand right next to his body: "Up?"

The broom did nothing.

"Don't ask it ... Gangolf, was it?" Hooch tried to help.

Gangolf nodded.

"Okay Gangolf, it's not a question, it's an order. Make your broom do its job."

Gangolf nodded again: "Up!"

His broom jumped upright and began to sweep the lawn.  
At first everybody stared at the scene in complete confusion, then Anny began to laugh and within seconds the whole class was roaring with laughter.

"Well, this is new." Professor Hooch caught the broom and put it back on the ground. "I have never seen a broom react like that before, though that is how Muggles use their brooms. Up."

The broom jumped into her hand without the slightest problem.

"There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the spells on this broom." Hooch diagnosed. "Try again."

Gangolf did and the broom went right back to sweeping.

"Strange." Professor Hooch stated. "I have to admit this problem is entirely new to me and I'm not sure how best to combat it. Before we start experimenting I'll try whether I can find anything about it in the library. For now just lift your broom manually."

Next they had to mount their brooms and Professor Hooch corrected their positions.

"Not that tight, child." she admonished Tullia. "There's no need to throttle your broom."

"Can't we do this over the lake?" Tullia asked her.

"No, no, absolutely not." Hooch shook her head. "I've tried that before. Trust me, you don't want to fall into it in this weather or lose your broom in there."

And then they finally got to hover in the air for a moment. Danny still thought it was terribly boring, but several of the others gasped in surprise at the feeling. Apparently most of the West Hogsmeade students had never flown before and for Muggle born Anny it had to be a huge adventure.

What really worried Danny was that Tullia kept her eyes closed while she hovered. This way she'd never be able to fly.

"That wasn't high at all, you know." Danny informed her friend. "You could at least have taken a peek."

"Very good." Hooch stated. "Now once again and try to fly a few metres. Form a circle and fly to the right so you won't collide and land as soon as the person before you does. One, two, three, go!"

This exercise put Tullia behind Danny, so she couldn't see how her friend was doing. She had to open her eyes for this one or they'd crash when Danny stopped.

"Gangolf, what's the matter?" the teacher's voice rang out and moments later Danny had to land, if she didn't want to either rise higher than Hooch had permitted or crash into Anny. "You're supposed to fly, not walk."

"But it's not flying." Gangolf complained. "This broom never does what it should."

"Let me see." Hooch ordered. "Try to hover again."

Gangolf just stood on the ground. "See, nothing's happening."

"How about trying to push off?" Danny suggested sweetly. "Really Gangolf, don't you know anything?"

Just how stupid was that boy? Even Anny who'd never even seen someone fly a broom before had gotten hers in the air without needing to ask.

"Just try jumping off the ground a little." Apparently Professor Hooch had indeed encountered students who didn't understand the command 'push off' before.

Danny wondered whether English had been those students' first language, though.

Gangolf jumped pulling his broom into the air after himself. For a moment it did indeed hover, but then Gangolf fell into it on his way back down. His weight landed too far in the front and pushed the handle down.

With a shriek Gangolf landed face first on the ground. His broom stuck in the ground next to him with its tail up in the air.

Once again the class burst out laughing.

"Oh dear! Are you alright, Gangolf?" Hooch looked worried.

"My hair!" Gangolf exclaimed. "My robes!"

Flop! Laila fell off her broom from laughing.

Hooch glared at them.

"That's not funny." she snapped. "Gangolf might be in shock. "Julian, please be so nice and take him up to the hospital wing. Tell Poppy that he took only a little fall, but seems disoriented. Maybe he hit his head."

The second teacher who had only been watching silently so far came over to pick Gangolf up.

"Of course, Hanna." he smiled reassuringly. "Glad to be able to help. Hello Gangolf, we always seem to meet at the most embarrassing times, don't we?"

Danny had no idea how this Professor knew Gangolf, but Gangolf smiled back at him trustingly. Obviously he recognised the man as well.

Hooch turned back to the rest of the class: "Alright, lets try that again. Remember that you can steer your broom by turning the handle, but that is better reserved for adjusting height. For a turn on the same level it's best to just lean into the direction you want to go in. One, two, three, go!"

They actually flew several metres before Anny leaned too far and lost her balance. Her broom jerked towards the middle of the circle and she had to land quickly to save herself.

"Well done, class." Hooch declared anyway. "Never mind the little slip. Most of our school brooms are very old and not as well balanced as they should be, so it's very easy for beginners to slip. You'll have time to get used to your broom's particularities before we go any higher, don't worry."

Well maybe it made sense to go slowly after all. Despite her impatience Danny didn't want Anny to get hurt her very first time on a broom.

"And again." Hooch announced. "One, two, three, go!"

Again they all rose into the air and this time made it almost completely around before Ilsa lost control of her broom and they had to land.

"Oh, but you are a talented class." Hooch praised. "We're almost done for today, but I think we can try to go around one more time and those of you who feel comfortable enough can try letting go with one hand. Next week we'll work a little more on that and fly some other figures to practise steering."

Danny easily flew the whole round one handed, of course. She'd already practised it on a training broom after all.

To her surprise she even saw Anny lift her left hand off the handle a tiny little bit for a moment. Oh yes, that girl wasn't nearly as quiet and shy as she seemed.

They managed to stay in the air until Julian returned with Gangolf and the teacher called them back down and told them to take their brooms back to the shed.

On her way past the teachers Danny overheard part of their conversation.

"I guess Gangolf simply isn't very athletic." Hooch said. "There's one such difficult case in almost every year. It's just particularly bad luck that the rest of this class is doing so well. He'll hold them back."

"We could separate them." Julian suggested. "I could teach him individually, while you continue with the normal programme."

Danny's hopes soared when she heard that, but Hooch shook her head.

"No," she said. "You don't have the experience to deal with such a special case. I don't want to leave you alone with a problem like that until I'm sure you're prepared for every eventuality."

Danny sighed, but at least Tullia looked happy that they were going to take it slow.

 

A/N: Will Danny learn to be nicer to her friends? Will Tullia get over her fear of flying? And will Gangolf ever get his broom under control?

 

In the next chapter: Colleen has a talk with Sevi. Anny gets her hair band back in return for something unexpected and Gangolf runs afoul of a third year.


	10. Quidditch Tryouts and Club Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: To avoid further confusion: Jorge is from Spain, a country in Europe. Hence he's not likely to be a Quopot fan, even though that sport is popular in North and South America. In fact we haven't heard him say anything about sports, or seen him fly yet and don't know whether he's a sports fan at all. (He's in Hufflepuff, which means he's not part of the Slytherin/West Hogsmeade Flying class, nor does he participate in conversations held in the Slytherin common room.)

Chapter 10: Quidditch Tryouts and Club Choices

 

After the successful Flying lesson and a Charms class in which Gangolf earned Slytherin a total of eight points they had the fifth lesson off and Billy was feeling agreeable enough to make an attempt to be nice to Gangolf.

"I'm going to sign up for Soccer." he announced right when they got back to the common room. "Anybody want to join me? Aterus? Gangolf?"

Gangolf shook his head. "No way. Flying is bad enough. I'm not signing up for something that dangerous voluntarily."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun." Pank pushed. "I'm at least going to give it a try."

"Well, I don't want to." Gangolf declared. "I want a shower."

"Nothing wrong with that." Billy was feeling generous.

"Do you even know how to play Soccer?" Rupert asked Pank doubtfully.

"No, but I can learn." Pank grinned.

"They're offering 27 places." Danny reminded them. "For the entire school. If there are more candidates, we'll have to try out."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to already know the game to get in." Billy told them. "Draco says very few Hogwarts students know Soccer when they arrive at Hogwarts, so there probably aren't 27 of them at all."

"It can't hurt to try, I suppose." Danny shrugged. "I'll just sign up and see what happens."

In the end they all signed up for Soccer. Only Colleen was unwilling to participate in a vulgar Muggle sport and Gangolf was afraid.

"I'll take French." Colleen announced to everybody's surprise. "And maybe Art, or Poetry. Or perhaps Music or the Choir?"

She seemed to be honestly interested for once and didn't even huff off when Danny started teasing her about her indecision.

"Maybe we all should pick a second club, in case we don't make the Soccer team." Aterus suggested. "I think I'd like to join the Chess club."

"So Gangolf, what club are you signing up for?" Pank asked the boy when he finally returned from the bathroom with his hair freshly styled and wearing a neatly plated robe. "Made up your mind, yet?"

"I don't want to do any sports." Gangolf stated. "I thought I already told you Flying was enough."

"But not all the clubs are sports clubs." Aterus insisted. "I just signed up for Chess. There's no way you can get hurt there."

"Nocturne's taking French." Billy added. "That's noble and elegant. Just your style, isn't it?"

Rupert walked over to the notice board and read out: "French, Math, Soccer, Quidditch, Chess, Duelling, Art, Music, Ballet, Chemistry, Physics, Alchemy, Basket Weaving, Volleyball, Basketball, Gymnastics, Poetry, Psychology and Choir. All open for your choice, Gangolf. Don't tell me none of them ..."

"I don't want to ..." Gangolf started. "Wait a minute! Did you just say Ballet? Oh, I love the ballet."

"Um ... Gangolf? That's ballet dancing, not ballet watching." Billy cautioned.

"Of course it is." Gangolf snapped. "Yes, I'm taking Ballet."

Even Pank groaned at that.

"Gangolf, ballet is for girls." Dinah tried to explain. "Why don't you take Music?"

"Because Ballet is for everybody. They need male dancers as well." Gangolf grinned. "I can see it now: I'll be a big star. The world's best dancer. They'll all come to me begging me to dance in the greatest theatres of the world ..."

Billy jumped up and left the common room without another word while Tullia buried her face in her hands.

"I can't stand that guy!" groaned Danny. "Get real, Mirrorboy!"

Gangolf stared at Danny wide eyed for a moment, then left in a hurry as well.

He left startled silence behind.

"You know, that's the biggest coward I've ever met." Colleen stated.

"And you're the biggest snob, I've ever met." Danny commented.

Colleen shrugged. "Better than a coward."

"So what are your second choices?" Pank asked. "Think the Choir will be any good?"

"Billy already signed up for Chemistry." Rupert reported studying the lists again. "But it says you should take at least a year of Math first."

"Don't they have Biology?" Anny asked. "I want to know more about snakes."

"I wonder whether anyone actually picks Basket Weaving." Danny wondered.

"Some of the Hufflepuffs perhaps." Dinah said. "They like mindless activities they can chat over."

"Boooring." declared Danny.

"Does anyone know what they really do in Music?" Tullia asked. "I mean, does that mean listening to music, or actually making it?"

"Maybe it's all about the theory." Aterus suggested. "You wouldn't believe how complicated that is."

"It might mean dancing." Colleen said. "Ballet can't be the only dance they offer, right?"

"They can't offer everything." Pank argued. "According to the older students that's an unusually large choice."

 

Colleen approached Professor Snape's office with hesitation. Her head of house had been surprisingly friendly during detention, but she still knew she hadn't made a too good first impression. Should she really go to him for advice?

She hated to look weak, but there was a lot on her mind and she didn't have anybody else she could talk to. The last thing she wanted to do was tell another teacher about her problems and the clubs looked like a good excuse. She did have difficulty choosing after all, so it wasn't even a lie.

One last check whether her robes were falling properly and her hair was correctly tied. Anny's hair band had proven to be very efficient so far and once again Colleen found it still properly in place.

She'd gotten used to the feeling of the pony tail as well. It was more fun than a bun, because it swung around when she moved and it had bounced wonderfully during Flying class. The lesson itself may not have been particularly interesting aside from the show Gangolf had unintentionally provided, but the bouncing had been entertaining enough to keep her from getting bored.

Once assured of her proper looks Colleen put on a confident expression and marched up to the office door without looking left or right. She knocked and walked in distracting herself from her nervousness by paying special attention to the way she walked.

A Lady always had to keep herself straight, but not too stiff to look elegant. Moving too slowly would appear indecisive, too fast was timid and would mess up the fall of her robes and her legs would become visible through her clothes, if she took too long strides.

Concentrating on her grandmother's behaviour lessons always helped her to hide her feelings. Somehow it was easier to keep your expression in check, if you were controlling the rest of your body as well.

"Professor Snape?" she asked. "Do you have a moment? There's something I need to ask you."

"Ah, Miss Nocturne." Snape smiled at her. "Do come in, my dear."

He was friendly, yes, but Colleen wasn't deaf or stupid. She was very much aware that she was the only Slytherin first year that he addressed by her last name. Was that because she'd given the impression that it was her preference, or because he liked the others better?

"Thank you." she placed herself in the chair he indicated to sit in, taking care to place her robes so that they fell nicely and didn't get wrinkled, then folded her hands in her lap just like her grandmother had taught her. "I was wondering about the clubs, you see."

Professor Snape nodded. "Yes, those are one of the biggest advantages of our school partnership with West Hogsmeade. On its own Hogwarts doesn't have enough interested students for most of the clubs, but together we have almost three times as many students which allows us to offer such a big selection this year."

Colleen nodded, though she wasn't all that comfortable with having classes with the common rabble that went to a public school. She'd been able to avoid interaction with them during Flying class, though, so it would probably be possible to do the same in the clubs.

"Well, I saw that Billy signed up for both Soccer and Chemistry." she mentioned.

"Chemistry is a preparatory course for Alchemy." Professor Snape explained. "If you're interested in becoming an Alchemist, you have to take it first. Without a basic knowledge of Potions and Chemistry you'd be lost in an Alchemy course. I wouldn't advise taking Chemistry this year unless you already have a very good grasp of Mathematics, though. Taking a year of Math before starting Chemistry is only a recommendation, not a requirement, but it is recommended for good reasons."

Colleen inclined her head acknowledging his advice, though it wasn't at all what she'd meant to ask him.

"Having seen Billy's choices, I've been wondering just how many clubs we are allowed to pick." she explained. "There are several that sound very interesting to me."

"No official limit has been set, so theoretically you could sign up for all the clubs, but several will have to be held at the same time and even though you can't fail a club, they still require studying or practise as do your normal classes." Snape answered cautiously. "Seeing as it is only your first week at Hogwarts, I don't expect you to be able to judge just how much time you require for your school work, yet, so I advise to keep the number low for now. If you find that you have enough time left over for another subject, you can still add another club next year. I think two should be the limit for first year."

Colleen thought for a moment.

"It's a hard choice." she admitted.

Professor Snape nodded once again.

"Maybe, if you told me which clubs you're most interested in, I could help you make up your mind." he suggested. "I know most of the teachers and also some students who have participated in some of the clubs before."

"Well, I definitely want to take French." Colleen stated.

"That is a very useful subject indeed." Snape agreed. "But you should be aware, that you can still choose it as an elective in third year and that it is very difficult. It requires a lot of studying, especially at the beginning."

Colleen nodded. "I still want to learn it now."

"In that case I'd advise you to pick a second subject that isn't very time demanding and definitely no more." Snape decided. "What are your other choices?"

"I've been considering Art, Poetry, Acting, Music and the Choir." Colleen listed.

"Art is a nice pastime and you don't necessarily have to do any work outside of class for it." Snape agreed. "Poetry on the other hand is mostly taken by older students. You might find yourself rather lonely without classmates your own age and the work done there is adapted to the age group. Why don't you save that one for a later year, when you'll be able to appreciate it better? You don't have to do everything now."

"That sounds fair enough." Colleen agreed.

"Acting requires a lot of learning by heart." Snape continued. "As does French. Combining those two might end up being a little too much. Music ... Do you play a musical instrument?"

"The piano." Colleen admitted. "I've been taking lessons for years, but I was more interested in actually hearing and discussing music."

"Then the Music Club isn't what you're looking for. It is more like a school band, or rather several school bands that practise and occasionally arrange parties." Snape explained. "I suppose some of the other Hogwarts students will be interested in playing more classical music, but as far as I know the current groups all play modern Muggle style. That doesn't seem to suit your temperament from what I've seen so far."

"Oh no, that's not what I expected at all!" Colleen exclaimed. "So you think I should choose between Art and the Choir?"

"Yes, the Choir does require some learning by heart as well, but not nearly as much as acting and they usually sing classical songs." Snape confirmed. "It is up to you now whether you prefer to paint or to sing, but you don't have to make up your mind right away. The lists will be up until Monday."

"It's still hard to choose." Colleen decided to get more personal. "Do you know the teachers well? What are they like?"

"I'm afraid I'm not very close with either of them." Snape said apparently not minding the personal question. "Professor Azaleea, who is in charge of the Art club, teaches Herbology at West Hogsmeade. My older son Draco says she's very friendly and popular with the students, but can get very demanding. It's Professor Trelawney's first year teaching the Choir, so I can't predict how well she'll do at it. Until now she only taught Divination and with her classroom being up on the top of a tower and mine down in the dungeons we don't meet much. Few Slytherins have an interest in Divination and Professor Trelawney is a very private person who usually takes her meals in her rooms."

"She's a Hogwarts teacher, though, and the Choir will meet at Hogwarts?" Colleen asked.

She didn't like the idea of having to go to West Hogsmeade for class. Who knew what that place might be like? It was a public school, after all. Most likely it was filthy and full of germs.

"Yes, I think so. That's at least the plan as it was discussed at the staff meeting." Snape answered. "The final locations and times for each club will be arranged once all the applications are in, though. Depending on the number of students there will probably have to be two groups for some while those with too few participants might have to be cancelled."

"If I apply for the Choir and it is cancelled, will I still be able to join the Art club, after the lists are taken off?" Colleen asked a little worried.

"Most likely, yes." Professor Snape assured her. "I would have to negotiate it with Professor Azaleea, but unless the Art club already has more members than she is comfortable with, I don't see why it would be a problem. Should you find out that you don't like a club after all later in the year, it is possible to quit or switch clubs as well, but don't abuse that possibility. It is meant only for emergencies."

That was a relief!

"Thank you, Professor." Colleen said getting up. "You have helped me a lot."

"I'm glad to help. That's what a head of house is for after all." Snape replied. "Please don't hesitate, if there's anything else troubling you. You're not having any problems now, are you? You seem a little lonely."

"I ..." she hesitated. "I'm fine, Sir, but I do miss my family a little. I owled them on the first day of school and still haven't received an answer. That weighs on my mood, I suppose."

"Are you worried that something might have happened to your owl?" Snape asked. "They should have had ample time to send an answer, if they are in the habit of answering their letters right away."

"They aren't." Colleen sat back down. "They are very busy people and never have much time. I just thought that my starting Hogwarts was important enough to get a fast answer. I thought they'd be proud to hear I was sorted into Slytherin and would want to congratulate me. And ... I also asked them to send me an urgently needed item. I didn't think they'd want me to go without that."

"An urgently needed item." Snape repeated. "May I ask what exactly you are in need of?"

Colleen hoped that she didn't blush. "A set of hairpins. I seem to have lost mine."

"Your hair looks very nice as it is now." Snape stated obviously at a loss with such a feminine problem.

"That's only because I'm using this elastic ribbon." she pointed at the hair band which should be clearly visible. "It's some Muggle thing I had to borrow from Anny and she'll want it back. I didn't tell my parents I had that anyway."

"Well, I'm sure somebody else will be able to lend you a hair band if you have to return Anny's before your hairpins arrive." Snape assured her. "And before you worry yourself unnecessarily I suggest you owl your parents again. Most likely your owl got lost on the way, or maybe the answer did. It happens often enough."

Of course it did, but Colleen also didn't want to be pushy, if her parents just hadn't deemed her letter worthy of a fast answer. It was never a good idea to be too demanding of their time.

Maybe she could use one of the ribbons on the sleeves of her green summer robes, she thought on the way back up to the dorm after signing up for French and the Choir. She wasn't likely to wear those anytime soon and the colour looked good on her.

With a little caution it was easy enough to pull the ribbon out and she stepped in front of the mirror to try it out. Tying it properly while working over her head and being only able to see what she was doing in the mirror was difficult, though. The sides tended to end up uneven, or the ribbon wasn't in the middle in the first place. Every time she thought she'd done it the ribbon suddenly sagged away and slipped either to the side, or down the length of the pony tail until she was afraid of losing it entirely as soon as she moved.

She was just making another attempt when the door opened behind her. In the mirror she saw Anny walk past her, then heard water running next to her, but she didn't pay the mudblood any attention.

"That'll never hold like this."

"What?" Colleen glared at Anny.

"Trust me, I've tried it before." Anny insisted. "Those ribbons just aren't made for it. They always slip. You have to tie it to a proper hair band that will hold your hair in place. I'll show you."

She held out her hand and after a moment of hesitation Colleen handed over the green ribbon.

Anny grabbed the hair band which Colleen had left lying on the sink next to her.

"It's best to fold the ribbon in the middle, put the folded end through the hair band and then pull the ends through here." Anny demonstrated. "If you just pull one end through the hair band the ribbon will never be straight. Then you tie the ribbon and make sure the sides are even."

Colleen watched as Anny tied and corrected the ribbon until it was just right. She had to admit that the mudblood was good at that. She probably wouldn't have been able to arrange it that nicely this fast.

"There, now you just have to make sure the ribbon is exactly on top when you put it on." Anny grinned and held the construction out to Colleen. "And the best part is that you don't have to untie it every time you take it off. You can just leave the ribbon on as long as you like it."

It required some pushing and pulling to get the ribbon into the proper position, but then Colleen did indeed have a pony tail with a ribbon in her hair.

Anny frowned. "No, that's not quite it."

"Yes it is." Colleen contradicted. "That's exactly the middle."

"The middle, yes, but the colours don't match." Anny shook her head. "Red and green is a bad combination. At least unless you want to spread some early Christmas cheer. We should have used a green hair band."

Now it was Colleen who frowned. "Do you know how to do a colour changing charm?"

"No, but I think I have a green hair band. Come on." Anny dashed back into the dorm and opened the drawer of her nightstand.

Colleen watched amazed as she brought out a small box full of hair bands in various colours and emptied it onto her bed. "There!" she said. "I knew it."

Unfortunately when they held the hair band next to Colleen's ribbon it turned out to be a very different shade of green.

"No, that won't do." Anny decided. "Lets try a black one. That won't be as obvious in your hair and it doesn't clash with anything."

Indeed the black hair band did look much better with the green ribbon and Anny looked very satisfied with herself when Colleen said so and admired herself in the mirror.

"Oh, but I meant to give your hair band back to you, not borrow another!" Colleen suddenly remembered.

"Doesn't matter." said Anny with a shrug. "I just want to have the red one back, because it's one of my only pair. Without it I can't wear pigtails."

"You know, pigtails look hopelessly childish." Colleen informed her, but handed over the red hair band just the same.

"I like them anyway." Anny returned. "And you can keep the black one as long as you need to. I hardly wear it anyway."

"Anny!" someone yelled from somewhere on the stairs before Colleen could make up her mind whether it was proper to thank the mudblood or not. "Hurry up!"

'Must be Danny' Colleen thought. None of the others were that impatient and indecently loud.

"Coming!" Anny yelled back. "Come on, we shouldn't be late for dinner."

Dinner! Colleen had almost forgotten about that entirely and several days of hardly eating had taught her that that was a very bad idea. She followed Anny as fast as she could manage while still looking dignified.

"What took you so long?" Danny demanded of Anny, though she was glaring at Colleen.

"We made a new hair band for Colleen, so I could get my red one back." Anny explained.

Pank and the rest didn't look much happier than Danny when Colleen tagged along to the great hall, but they didn't tell her to get lost either. Maybe they could get along after all.

"So, have you made up your mind what clubs you're going to choose, yet?" Danny sneered at Colleen while they were waiting for their turn at the soup bowl.

Colleen nodded. "Yes, in fact I've already signed up for French and the Choir."

"That was fast." stated Anny. "How did you decide?"

"I went and asked Professor Snape what they're like." Colleen said lightly. "Music isn't worth it after all and Poetry's better for older students. Art is held in West Hogsmeade and he thought Acting and French wasn't a good combination."

"I think I might take Acting as my second choice." Anny announced. "What do you think, Dinah?"

"No thanks, I'm no actor." Dinah shook her head. "I'm taking Gymnastics. That'll at least give me some exercise, if I don't make the Soccer team."

"Rupert and I are taking Riddles." Pank told them. "That sounds like fun."

"Sounds like hard work." Danny frowned. "I'm with Dinah. I always liked Gymnastics in primary school."

"I've been thinking about taking Alchemy." Tullia announced. "I've always wanted to know what it's all about."

"Then you need to take Chemistry first." Colleen said. "And Math before that."

Billy looked up from his soup in surprise. "That's right. How did you know that?"

"Professor Snape mentioned it. He said you wouldn't understand Alchemy without knowing the basics of both Potions and Chemistry first and you need Math for the Chemistry course."

"But Billy's taking Chemistry without Math." Tullia complained.

"That's because I already know some. I grew up in a family of Alchemists, remember?" Billy grinned. "Anyway, I know the teacher."

Dinah gasped. "But that's not fair!"

"Connections are everything." Danny grinned.

"Well, my connections say there'll be Quidditch tryouts on Saturday." Rupert declared.

"Connections?" Danny laughed. "What connections?"

"Jon." Rupert admitted.

"Who?" Danny asked again.

"You know, Jonathan from Hufflepuff." Rupert explained. "I worked with him in Herbology and we talked a little and when I met him again in the corridor today, he told me about the Quidditch tryouts."

"But that's the ones for Hufflepuff, then." Billy groaned. "Every house has its own team and they hold the tryouts separately."

"No, they're all on Saturday." Rupert insisted. "Jon said one of the Hufflepuff prefects overheard Hooch telling Sprout that the Quidditch players all have to be picked before the Soccer tryouts and those are scheduled for Sunday."

"I thought we had until Monday to sign up?" Dinah asked surprised.

"For the other clubs." Rupert explained. "I checked. The Quidditch list doesn't give a deadline, but the Soccer one says Sunday morning. All the other lists all say Monday."

"So what is it to us when the Quidditch tryouts are held?" Tullia asked. "None of us are trying out anyway."

"But maybe we can watch." suggested Anny. "I want to see them fly."

"Of course we'll watch." declared Pank. "It's a matter of house loyalty. We have to support our house team every way we can."

 

"You missed the Ravenclaws' Quidditch tryouts." Colleen smirked as she walked into the Potions classroom at one minute to ten on Saturday morning. "They just ended."

"And you were almost late for class." Danny scolded. "You know how easily Professor Snape takes points for that."

"Only off the other houses." Dinah corrected. "Slytherins only need to come up with a good excuse."

"I'm not late." Colleen insisted. "I'm right on time."

Several Ravenclaws were late however and Professor Snape didn't let the Quidditch tryouts count as an excuse.

"You're not even allowed to try out, yet, so I don't see why you had to be at the tryouts." he declared.

"Professor Hugge even gave the second years the first lesson off so they could attend." Lucinda Iterton complained.

"That," Snape stated softly, but with a deadly glare. "Is Professor Hugge's business and second years are allowed to be on a Quidditch team so their situation was different. Now get out your books and open them to page five before I take any more points for delaying class."

The Ravenclaws grumbled, but complied.

Billy softly hummed to himself as he stirred his cauldron. When he was brewing in this mood he hardly noticed anything around him. Today's potion might be terribly simple, but he liked it nevertheless.

"Ms Nocturne and Ms Iterton!" his father barked suddenly tearing him out of his concentration. "Whatever is so important that you have to discuss it right now?"

Colleen and Lucinda were standing in front of the ingredients cupboard blocking access to it for the rest of the class. A really stupid move, Billy knew. Considering that a Slytherin was involved his Dad might have let a short conversation slide, if it had been held somewhere a little more out of the way.

"Perhaps we all would like to know?" Snape hinted when the girls just stood there staring at their feet. "Well?"

"Nothing." Lucinda admitted. "I was just telling Colleen that Professor Hugge gave this lesson off as well, so his students could watch the Hufflepuff tryouts."

"Well, isn't that nice?" Snape sneered. "As I said before it is Professor Hugge's business how he plans to make up for the lost time. We have a lot of important basics to cover this year and I don't think you want to put in an extra lesson on Sunday to catch up, do you?"

Of course they didn't. They might miss the Soccer tryouts and at least in Slytherin too many of them had signed up for those.

"Or maybe you think that I'm going too slowly and would like me to speed up a little?" Snape continued. "Is this potion too easy for you?"

'Yes, Dad.' Billy thought, but wisely refrained from saying so. After all he knew that his classmates were finding it difficult.

So far Tullia seemed to be doing best, he decided as he watched them work while letting his potion cool off. She was interested and worked diligently when she wasn't daydreaming. Danny had taken to giving her a gentle push whenever she started drifting off and it looked like that method was working.

Anny and Dinah were doing okay as well. They'd both said that brewing reminded them of cooking. Unfortunately the boys never seemed to have learned how to cook, though.

Gangolf was doing worst, because on top of not having any experience with hot cauldrons or even pots he was also afraid of geting burned. As a result he threw his ingredients in from too far away causing hot water to splash out all the time and he stirred from the side holding the stirrer by its very end with two fingers.

Colleen still was disgusted by some ingredients, but this time had thought of bringing her dragon hide gloves along. She ought to get herself plastic ones, Billy thought. Those would serve her better.

She also seemed to have very little experience with kitchen knives and found it difficult to cut and slice correctly.

Aterus had never been allowed to handle a sharp knife at home and was struggling with a similar problem. Occasionally Billy helped him out a little. His Dad had asked him to help his classmates after all, hadn't he?

 

The next house to have Quidditch tryouts was Gryffindor who were up right after lunch. It was a little daunting to see them set off for the pitch straight after the meal. The whole house appeared to be going and they were shouting and laughing and making boasts that rang through the entire great hall.

They seemed like a single big gang, Billy thought and moved closer to his dorm mates.

Even Colleen seemed daunted by that display and remained in her seat.

The fist years sat looking at each other for a while, waiting for somebody to make the first move.

"Are you sure it'll be safe to watch their tryouts?" Gangolf finally asked. "What if they attack us?"

"We just have to stick together." Pank declared, but didn't sound entirely sure of himself.

"There's a lot of them and most are older than us." Billy pointed out. "Our numbers won't help us, if we're attacked by a large group of older students."

"The older ones will ignore us like they always do." Pank said.

"Are you sure?" Gangolf asked.

"Maybe they think we have no business watching their Quidditch team." Billy pointed out. "They might see it as spying."

"Lets stay behind the older Slytherins, then." Rupert suggested. "That should be safe."

It was, but it also turned out to be a bad position to watch from. They could only see those candidates who flew very high over the heads of the taller students.

"Professor Hooch and the old team members are standing near the right side hoops." Danny reported after a daring expedition to the front of the crowd of watchers. "I think they're taking notes."

"That's what they did for Ravenclaw, too." Colleen confirmed her suspicion. "Do you know how they tell the individual candidates apart up there?"

"I suppose they know their house mates better than we do and recognise them more easily." Danny shrugged.

"They might have assigned a watcher to each candidate." suggested Billy.

"This is boring." Gangolf decided. "I'm going back to the common room."

"Don't get lost." Pank called after him. It didn't seem necessary to warn him to watch out for Gryffindors. They were all here watching the Quidditch tryouts after all."

Things became much more interesting when the Gryfindors left and the Slytherin candidates started to gather on the field. The crowd got much thinner for a while and they went up to the front where they'd be able to see what was really going on.

"There's the team." Danny pointed excitedly.

"There's quite a lot of them." Rupert commented. "Are you sure they're all on the team?"

"There should be fourteen." Billy explained. "Seven for the actual team and seven reserve players. They don't always really have seven reserves, though. Four's the minimum."

"This year there are only two openings on the real team." Danny added. "A chaser and a beater. I don't know about the reserves."

"Only one opening." an older boy who'd been standing next to them informed them. "But it's the keeper, so it needs to be filled. Without a reserve keeper we'd have to forfeit, if our keeper ever got hurt. You can play missing a chaser or beater, but you definitely need the keeper and seeker."

"So there are three openings for all those people?" Anny asked looking at the about twelve hopeful candidates that had gathered on the pitch. "And only two that actually get to play."

"They can't be sure of that either." the older student replied. "A player would have to be really good to be accepted into the main team after only one trial. Most likely they'll promote the two best reserve players and put all the new ones on the reserves."

"Sounds very hard to get in." Tullia commented. "Are you sure you want to do that, Danny?"

Danny shrugged. "I have seven years. If I get on the reserves next year, there are still five chances to make the main team."

"Hey, first years! First years!" A boy who Pank thought was a third year squeezed himself through the once again tightening crowd and stopped in front of them panting. "That girly boy of yours, the one with the mirror ... I don't know his name."

"Gangolf." Pank stated. "Gangolf Bartering. Why? What about him?"

"He's in the hospital wing." the boy panted.

"What?" Pank just couldn't believe it. "But he was here only minutes ago. He said he was just going back to the common room."

"Yes, well, once there he decided to annoy everybody by prancing around and saying he was a ballet star and Calligula lost his temper and gave him a little push." the boy reported. "Gangolf fell and started crying so much the prefect levitated him to the hospital wing. I just thought you ought to know."

Pank nodded. "Thank you. We'll check up on him, if he isn't back in an hour or so."

"Ha, Mirrorboy was probably just crying because he's so scared of big, bad Calligula Lestrange." Danny snorted. "He's just a cowardly little baby, that's all."

She was probably right, but still Pank couldn't quite enjoy the Quidditch tryouts after that. What if Gangolf really was hurt? Shouldn't they check up on him to make sure he was okay and didn't need them?

But the others would be disappointed, if they missed the tryouts and it turned out that Gangolf had only scraped his knees. Perhaps it would be the responsible thing to do to go himself and leave the others here?

Was it a good idea to leave the others on their own, though? And would he be safe walking through the castle on his own?

In the end Pank and Rupert went straight to the hospital wing after the tryouts were officially over.

"We're here to visit Gangolf Bartering." Pank told Madame Pomfrey. "A Slytherin first year."

"From what we were told he fell when dancing in the common room and hurt himself." Rupert added.

"Did he?" Madame Pomfrey asked. "He told me he was attacked by a group of third years."

Rupert shrugged. "That's the story we heard. We didn't see it happen."

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "Well, he's probably embarrassed by his clumsiness. Don't tease him about it!"

"Of course not." Pank promised. "We're his friends."

"So is he hurt badly?" Rupert added.

"No, no, not at all. He just bruised his knee and hand. I already sent him back to the common room. You must have missed him by seconds."

Indeed Gangolf was perfectly fine when they met him at dinner. Perfectly fine and eating salad again.

"Don't you think you should eat something more after your injury?" Dinah asked him. "You know, to rebuild your strength."

"I don't want to grow fat." Gangolf explained. "I didn't even miss any meals."

"You won't grow fat, Mirrorboy." Danny rolled her eyes. "You're so thin Professor Hooch is probably worried that the wind will blow you away when you finally get your broom in the air."

Gangolf shuddered.

"Hey, what's going on at the head table?" Rupert pointed to the front of the room where Professor Hooch was talking to three students.

As they watched two more students walked up to the group. One of them bent in, said something to Hooch and handed her a parchment. Hooch opened and read the roll, then pointed at something on it and looked to the student as if she'd just asked a question.

The student spoke again. Hooch regarded the parchment for a moment longer, then nodded and pushed it over to the headmaster and returned to her conversation with the three first students, while the two others went to the Ravenclaw table.

"That's the Gryffindor Quidditch captain." Colleen reported nodding towards the group still at the head table.

"Which one?" Pank asked. "The blond?"

"No, the tall redhead. The blond's their keeper."

Cheers rose up from the Ravenclaw table and now a large group of Hufflepuffs was approaching the head table. They too handed in a parchment, which apparently met Hooch's approval right away as she passed it on to the headmaster without any further questions.

Now all of Hufflepuff was cheering.

"It must be the names of the newly appointed Quidditch players they're handing in." Danny realised. "They have to be approved by the teachers."

"Isn't the headmaster supposed to do that?" asked Tullia.

"I guess he trusts in Hooch's judgement." Danny decided. "She'd have to know best how well they fly. Dumbledore wasn't even at the tryouts."

"So what's with the Gryffindors?" Rupert asked as the Slytherin captain handed in his list.

"Looks like Hooch doesn't agree with one of their choices." Billy suggested.

The Slytherin captain said something to his Gryffindor counterpart and the other two Gryffindors had to hold their captain back while the lone Slytherin sauntered back to the table smirking in triumph.

Soon the names of the new members of the Quidditch team were whispered down the length of the table. No loud cheering here, just quiet congratulations. There wasn't that much cause for it anyway. The three newcomers had indeed all been placed with the reserves.

They were almost finished eating by the time the Gryffindors finally returned to their table as well and Dumbledore got up.

"Just a moment please!" the headmaster called out to the assembled students. "I'd just like to take the chance to congratulate all the new members of our Quidditch teams while we are all gathered here."

There was a round of applause and most students turned back to their meals, but Dumbledore wasn't done.

"For those of you who didn't make it, I'd like to remind you that you can still sign up for the Soccer club today." he continued. "You may already have noticed that we have more openings than usual. That's because we have decided to attempt to run two Soccer clubs this year. Our new partner school West Hogsmeade has that many as well and we thought it might even our chances in the games against them. Yes, there will be the chance to actually represent Hogwarts in real Soccer games this year. How does that sound?"

Cheers went up from all of the houses this time, though not quite as loud as they had been for the Quidditch players.

By the time the first years returned to the common room the list of names for the Soccer club had definitely grown, though.

 

A/N: Is Colleen starting to like Anny? Will Gangolf ever learn to avoid trouble? And is Caligula Lestrange always that dangerous?

 

In the next chapter: The Soccer tryouts. Our first years visit West Hogsmeade for the first time and Draco shows up again.


	11. The Soccer Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This one doesn't contain all that I promised, I'm afraid. Somehow it just wouldn't all fit.

Chapter 11: The Soccer Team

 

When Billy arrived in the common room the next morning the Soccer list was already gone. In its place hung a small note saying that the Soccer tryouts for fourth to seventh years would start at nine, while first to fourth years were to be at the Quidditch pitch at two in the afternoon.

"Hey, why do the fourth years get to try out twice?" Rupert complained when he saw the note.

"They don't." Billy stated. "At least not most of them. At West Hogsmeade they have a senior and a junior team, too. The fourth years are assigned by size. Small ones usually play as juniors, tall ones can already join the seniors."

"So we can't get into the first team in Soccer either?" Danny frowned.

"Of course we can." Billy shook his head wondering just what he'd said to give that impression. "We'll just play in a different age group than the seventh years. You don't really want to be overrun by Tall Tom in the big game, do you?"

Since nobody knew who Tall Tom was, that didn't impress his classmates much.

Still the Soccer tryouts were the talk of the day.

"So, are you coming with us to the pitch, Colleen?" Anny asked while spooning up the last of her pudding at lunch.

"Her?" Danny sneered. "Why should she come? She's going to snobby French."

"So?" Anny asked. "Nobody said French students weren't allowed to watch their friends play Soccer."

"What friends?" Danny snorted. "Nocturne doesn't have any friends. We don't want her there."

"Well, I do." Anny declared calmly. "I want all my dorm mates there to encourage me. I'll be less nervous, if Colleen is there."

"You'll have all the rest of us and the boys, too." Danny declared.

"And me." Colleen added in exactly the same tone. "Because it just happens that I was planing to watch anyway."

Danny glared. Colleen stuck her nose up in the air haughtily.

Dinah sighed. "You'll never get those two to get along, Anny."

"I'm not trying." Anny returned calmly. "All I want is to be friends with both of them myself."

Tullia and Dinah exchanged baffled looks.

"Well, you can't say Anny isn't ambitious." Pank decided.

"What did you expect?" Anny asked him. "I was sorted into Slytherin, you know."

 

At first glance it seemed like the whole school had gathered at the pitch when they arrived for the tryouts.

"Are we really up against that many people?" Rupert sounded a little doubtful.

"Nonsense." Pank declared with more conviction than he was actually feeling. "Most of them probably just came to watch. Nocturne's here, too, isn't she? That doesn't mean she wants to play."

Colleen had different worries at the moment, though.

"Are you sure that's the right clothing?" she asked Anny for about the fifth time since they had met up in the common room. "It's hardly decent for a young lady."

"It's just fine in the Muggle world." Anny assured her. "They always play Soccer wearing shorts. You have to kick the ball with your feet, you know. Long robes would get in the way."

"But a witch shouldn't show off her legs like that." Collen insisted. "Couldn't you wear one of those things Billy's using?"

"Maybe, but I have only one pair of jeans with me and they're new." Anny declared. "I don't want to ruin them. I promise to owl home for an old pair, if I make the team, though. The shorts will be too cold in winter anyway."

"Won't we get uniforms like the Quidditch players?" Tullia wondered. She didn't have any trousers in her trunk at all and had had to choose a knee length skirt instead.

Colleen frowned at her. "I certainly hope so."

"What?" Tullia demanded. "My skirt covers my knees. That's perfectly decent."

"It doesn't hide your ankles." Colleen explained. "The Gryffindor wizards will think you're a slut."

"Only the pureblood ones." Professor Snape materialised out of nowhere and for a moment Pank wondered whether he'd apparated. "Pank and Rupert, you really shouldn't play Soccer in robes. They'll get in the way and might even trip you. Put on some Muggle trousers."

"We don't have any." Pank had to admit. "And Billy already lent his second pair to Aterus."

Snape shook his head. "That won't do. Blinky!"

"Yes, master Professor, Sir?" A tiny house elf popped up right beside their head of house.

"Transfigure these boys some trousers for the game, Blinky." Snape ordered. "Then stay here to turn their clothes back after the tryouts."

"Trousers, master Professor, Sir? Blinky ises not sure what trousers ises to look like."

Snape regarded the students around him for a moment. "For this occasion the clothes this girl is wearing would be best." he decided pointing at Anny.

"See." Anny smiled at Colleen.

Blinky snapped her fingers and suddenly Pank felt very light and his legs were cold. He looked down at himself and found that he was indeed wearing exactly the same clothes as Anny. In fact, even the colours were the same.

"It looks almost like a uniform." Rupert commented once he too had gotten the surprise of the sudden change.

Professor Snape nodded at Blinky and moved on to the next group of Slytherins, a bunch of excited third years.

None of the other teachers seemed to have come to the tryouts and at first Pank wondered whether Snape might be in charge of the Soccer team, but then a tall teacher he'd never seen before showed up wearing muggle training clothes and a whistle around his neck. Now that he thought about it, he thought he remembered the man sitting between Dumbledore and Snape at lunch.

"Hello, everybody!" he called out. "Please call me either Pit, or trainer. I don't like to be addressed as Professor or Sir."

That earned him some laughs and he smiled.

"I am very happy to see how much interest this school is showing for a game that is still rather new to it." Pit continued. "I have to admit that I was a little worried whether we'd really be able to double the teams so suddenly, but it appears I severely underestimated you. Believe it or not, we have 39 candidates here to try out for the Hogwarts junior Soccer team today."

"Thirty-nine?" Anny gasped. "Does that even leave us a chance to make it?"

"Of course we have a chance." Danny snapped. "Those others have to try out just like we do. We just have to be better."

"Seven of them already tried out for the senior team this morning and I haven't made my final decision about that, yet, so don't think I have to stuff all of them into the junior team." Pit waved to get the students' attention back. "I want to have 22 players on the junior team and only four places are currently taken."

"See, there are lots of places still free." Danny declared.

"Now, if those students who aren't here to try out, could please move over into those beautiful stands you have here. You have a wonderful view from there and can wave and shout your support from up there as much as you want. I need to see my candidates, though."

More laughter.

"Well, I'll be going then." Colleen announced. "I'll see you afterwards."

Anny nodded. "Thanks for being here."

"Maybe you can find Gangolf somewhere up there." Pank said. "I don't like to leave him on his own with so many Gryffindors about. I'd feel better, if I knew there was someone to stop him from getting into trouble."

Colleen sneered, but nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him, if I meet him. Don't expect me to go looking, though."

"You probably wouldn't find him up there anyway." Aterus said. "He was headed for the shower just when we left the dorm. Knowing him he's probably still fiddling with his hair."

"Since there are 32 candidates that I haven't seen, yet, we're going to form teams of four who will play against each other." Pit announced. "Now to start with we have a total of 16 first years. That's more than in any other year. Thank you for your big interest first year."

There was some cheering and applause from the stands, but the candidates left on the pitch felt much too nervous to join in.

"Now, my list here is by year, house and alphabet so I'll just start with the Gryffindors." Pit continued. "Which one of you is Charles Forbes? Come here, Charlie Forbes!"

"That's Charles, not Charlie." the Gryffindor corrected as he walked up to the teacher.

"Ah, Charles, I see. Named after the next king, I suppose?" Pit smiled. "So have you played Soccer before?"

"Yes, Sir ... I mean Trainer."

"Excellent, then please step over to this side." Pit pointed to his right. "Dominic King of Gryffindor house?"

Pank caught Danny sticking her tongue out at Dominic as he walked by.

"How about you Dominic, do you know how to play?" Pit luckily didn't seem to have noticed.

"No, Trainer." the Gryffindor admitted.

"I see, over there, then." Pit pointed to his left. "Can't really compare you to Charles, then, can I? Hermelindis Berring, our first Hufflepuff?"

"You can call me Hermy."

This time Danny didn't stick out her tongue, Pank noted with relief. Apparently she did make a difference between Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors.

Hermy too, hadn't played before and joined the left group.

"Melitta Eagle." went to the right. "Alexander Vauxhall of Hufflepuff house?"

"Alex, Trainer."

 

Pit smiled. "Okay, Alex, have you played before?"

"A little." Alex said. "No real games, though."

Pit pointed to the right anyway. "Carmelitta Weasley of Hufflepuff?"

"Cam. And I haven't played before."

Left side for Cam.

"Lucinda Iterton of Ravenclaw?" hadn't played before and went to the left. Shannon O'Malley however had actually been on a school team before and was sent to the right.

"Excellent." Pit decided. "Those are our first two teams then. Now for the Slytherins. Pankratius Anterhill?"

"Pank. I don't even know the rules, but I'd love to learn."

"Okay, in that case you'll form a new team on the left side." Pit returned. "Just keep a few steps away from the first team, so I can tell you apart. Dinah Laxter?"

"I can't play either." Dinah admitted right away and stood next to Pank.

Rupert soon joined them while Danny and Anny went to the right.

Aterus became the last member of the second left side team.

"Billy Snape." Pit nodded towards Billy. "I don't really have to ask, do I?"

Billy laughed. "No, Pit, I can play."

"And Tu ... Tullia?" Pit blinked at Tullia. "Is that correct? I've never heard that name before."

"Yes, it's an old Roman name, I think. I'm named after my great grandmother."

"I see. Well Tullia, can you play?"

Tullia shook her head.

"In that case, you'll have to wait a little." Pit decided. "At the moment I really need someone to complete Billy's team. Lets try the second years. Andrew Rogan of Gryffindor?"

"Yes, Sir, I can play very well." a big blond boy declared.

"Perfect." Pit smiled. "Then we'll play a little game without keepers. Just try to get the ball though between the two stones on either side of this field. I know they're no real goals and it's a much too small field, but for now it will suffice and I can judge your abilities better this way."

"Charles, Shannon, Melitta and Alex?" he pointed at each of them in turn and waited for them to confirm their identity with a nod. "You take this side. Billy, Danny, Anny and Andrew? The other side. Try to score as often as possible until I whistle."

Pank watched wide eyed as the two groups stormed towards the ball. There was a big muddle of players for a moment, then some surprised shouts and little Shannon O'Malley dashed out of the group with the ball. A quick kick and it went right through between the stones.

An older student who'd been waiting behind the makeshift goal stopped it with his foot and kicked it out to the players once again.

"Excellent!" Pit shouted out to the players. "Nike? Note: Shannon, very good footwork."

Pank just barely caught the remark and crept closer to hear. So this Nike was taking notes for the trainer, huh? That meant Pit had to tell him what he thought of each candidate.

"Hey!" Anny's voice rang out from the field and Pank quickly looked to see what had gone wrong.

"Andrew!" Pit yelled immediately. "Anny's on your team. Try playing together."

Andrew didn't react, though. He had the ball and was running straight at Alex. Alex sped up to meet him, but Andrew pushed him out of the way with one arm.

"Play fair!" Pit yelled. "You could have gone around easily."

Andrew scored and the girl posted behind the other goal kicked the ball back again.

"Andrew, very forceful, slightly reckless." Pit told Nike. "Anny, fast and persistent."

The ball went to Alex again, but he stopped when Andrew ran up to him again and surrendered it without a fight.

"Alex, easily daunted." Pit diagnosed.

Seconds later Pank wondered whether Alex hadn't been right to react like that when Andrew bowled over Charles and ran right over him.

Pit blew his whistle. "Charles!"

"I'm okay." the Gryffindor insisted, but there was blood dripping from his nose.

"Go up to the school nurse and get a potion for your nose." Pit ordered anyway. "Andrew, off the field."

"But Trainer!" Andrew started.

"I have seen all I need to of you already anyway." Pit returned his voice suddenly stern. "I want even teams."

"Andrew, too brutal." he dictated to Nike after restarting the game.

Pank wondered whether that meant that Andrew was permanently out of the running. He'd been really successful in the game after all.

"Try some teamwork!" Pit yelled out to the players.

Now Billy had the ball. He dove through between Melitta and Alex, then shot it to Danny just before Shannon reached him. Danny however missed the goal.

"Danny forceful, but little ball control." Pit diagnosed. "Billy, good team player."

Anny snatched the ball on its way back just before Alex could get to it and scored.

"Melitta, shows understanding of tactics." Pit commented to Panks surprise.

He hadn't noticed Melitta doing anything special at all. She hadn't even scored, yet.

The first tryout game ended soon after that and Pit told the two left side teams to form a circle each and kick a ball around it.

"Try to make your partners run as little as possible." he advised. "Remember that you have to kick it with the side of your foot. The inside will be easier for the start. Tullia, you can join one of the groups for this exercise."

Kicking a ball in the right direction turned out to be a lot more difficult than it looked. Not only did it take Pank some time to figure out how hard to kick it so it landed exactly at Aterus' feet, he also had to experiment for a while to find how to kick it in the first place and every small dent in the ground could make it run off course.

How had Billy, Anny and Danny managed to do it so casually while running all over the field? Panks estimation of the three's abilities grew with every shot that went wild.

The exercise certainly left him no time to watch Pit pick through the second and third years for the next mini game and he was quite surprised when they were called off the field so the others could start.

All but one of the older students had claimed to have played be able to play, though two of this group seemed very clumsy compared to the first one. Pank assumed that Pit had noticed that as well, but since he didn't know these students by name the trainer's remarks to Nike didn't mean much to him this time.

The third game was between two groups of three and then Pit sent out the beginners in two groups of five after all.

Their game seemed much slower to Pank than the other three, but hopefully that was to be expected. Pit had said that they would get a fair chance, right.

"Fine. This should give me an idea of your abilities." Pit said after that last game. "But there's one more thing I need. The reserve team still needs a keeper. Are any of you interested in playing that position? The skills required of a keeper are very different than of the other players, so we have to test them separately."

Billy's hand went up right away. "Me! I've always wanted to be a keeper."

Pit regarded him closely then shook his head. "I'd rather have a slightly older and bigger student who can cover more of the goal and I already have another position in mind for you. Something I really need someone like you for. Anybody else? Andrew perhaps? You're quite big and fast."

"I could try." one of the third year girls suggested. "You'd still consider me for another position, if I'm no good at it, will you?"

"Of course." Pit promised.

The girl, a Hufflepuff who turned out to be called Samantha, was sent into one of the goals and each of them had to try to shoot the ball past her. To his embarrassment Pank's shot went straight into her hands, but none of the other beginners fared much better. Several even missed the goal entirely.

After seeing Samantha's success two others decided to try as well and Pit asked Andrew once again, but the boy insisted that he wanted to be an attacker.

"Okay," Pit told them at the end. "You've all done well today and I wish I could take you all, but I can only pick 18. You'll find the list of players in your common rooms after dinner today. Those of you who won't make it, I'm really sorry and I hope you'll try again next year. Also remember that you can still sign up for Basketball or Volleyball."

 

Pit wasn't there for dinner, but Billy just shrugged it off and told them that he was actually part of the West Hogsmeade staff.

"He probably just ate lunch here, because he didn't want to have to run all the way back to town and then back here for the second half of the trials." he explained nervously pushing his food around. "Oh, I just can't eat. I have to know whether I made the team or not."

"Oh come on." Danny rolled her eyes. "The trainer practically said you did. He didn't want you to try out as keeper, because he'd already picked you for something else."

"He didn't really say it, though." Billy fidgeted. "What if he changed his mind?"

"He was really impressed with you." Pank reported. "He told that kid who was taking notes for him to write that you're a good team player. Remember how he always said to play together more? You're exactly what he was looking for."

"Yes, you were the best player out there." Aterus confirmed. "Who'd have beat you?"

"Andrew was much better than me." Billy stated. "Shannon's almost a professional and Mel stuck to me like glue for most of the game. I could barely get at the ball by the end."

"Mel didn't score a single time." Colleen remarked. "What's so good about that?"

"Of course she didn't." Billy rolled his eyes. "She was obviously trying out as a defender. She already knew her strength and picked her role accordingly. I'm a clumsy fool for trying out for everything at once."

"That's just two out of 18 positions." Danny reminded them. "So what if they take Shannon and Mel? That still leaves 16 positions for the rest of us."

"15." Anny corrected. "No first years as keeper, remember?"

"14." Rupert added. "They're sure to pick Andrew."

"Then why did Pit keep pushing him to try out as keeper?" Danny asked. "It looked like he was already sure he didn't want him as an attacker."

"He probably was. He said to note that he was too brutal." Pank said. "I don't think he liked the way he ran over Charles."

"That was a foul." Billy conceded.

"Right, he probably fears that Andrew would get too many penalties." Danny confirmed. "If you commit three fouls in a game you have to leave the field without being replaced. Then we'd have to play ten against eleven."

"So Andrew's out, Mel and Shannon in. Billy in." Dinah summed up. "Who do you think was the best keeper?"

"The first one." Colleen said to everybody's surprise. "She caught more balls than the other two."

"And she volunteered first." Danny added glaring at Colleen. "She wants the position."

"Shannon for keeper then." Anny said. "That leaves 13."

"See, we'll make it for sure." Danny stated.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, if I were you." Colleen sneered. "After all you missed the goal."

"Only once." Danny hissed back at her. "I scored twice."

"Still not that great." Colleen declared.

"Why don't we just go and check?" Gangolf suggested looking up from his plate turned mirror.

"Because we're not finished with our dinner." Pank answered calmly.

"Some people want more than a few bites of salad in their stomachs, Mirrorboy." Colleen informed him while elegantly cutting up a potato.

"Where were you all afternoon anyway?" Rupert asked. "Pank was so worried he sent Colleen to look for you, but you didn't turn up."

"I took a shower, applied my beauty mask, took my beauty nap, did some homework and did my hair and nails." Gangolf answered. "What did you think I'd do?"

"We thought you'd come to watch us try out." Dinah sounded a little hurt. "We were counting on your support."

"Too much time spent outdoors is bad for my complexion and try outs are boring anyway." Gangolf shook his head. "I don't like sports."

"Well, you're going to have to do sports in Sports class tomorrow." Colleen told him.

"Which reminds me. You're going to need sports clothes for that." Anny said. "You know, like the ones we wore for the tryouts today."

"I have to put on something like that?!" Colleen shrieked.

"You can wear long trousers." Anny assured her. "But I don't know where to get them. I'll lend you a shirt, though."

"Can I wear my skirt again?" Tullia asked. "It wasn't all that comfortable when playing Soccer."

"No, you need trousers." Danny said. "You'd better owl your parents for them."

"Hogwarts needs a proper sports uniform." Colleen stated. "Something decent and practical. The Soccer team will look terribly ragged without it."

"Maybe my jeans will fit one of you." Anny hesitated. "I don't think we'll get dirty in the very first Sports class, will we?"

Unfortunately nobody knew the answer to that and they went back to wondering whether they'd made the Soccer team or not.

 

For once Billy was at the notice board even faster than Danny.

"Mel made it." he reported as he scanned the list. The Slytherins had all been marked with big green lines, but he still went through every name top to bottom. "And Lucinda, Pank and Anny. Samantha is keeper. I told you it wasn't sure I'd make it." He sniffed a little.

"What do you mean not sure?" Rupert demanded. "That's the reserves, you dolt! You're on the main team. Look."

Billy blinked and looked to where Rupert was pointing. And indeed there it was. Snape, Billy, attacker.

"Attacker." he repeated incredulously. "I'm one of the tree main attackers?"

"Along with Shannon and Caligula Lestrange." Rupert confirmed. "Hey, I didn't see him at try out at all."

"Then he must have already been on the team before." Pank stated. "He's a third year. He could have joined two years ago."

"Yes, that also explains what he was doing in the common room during the Quidditch trials." Colleen said. "He wasn't interested, because he prefers Soccer."

Danny stood before the notice board staring. "I didn't make it." She couldn't believe it. "I didn't make it."

"Well, neither did I." Tullia tried to console her. "You're still signed up for Gymnastics, anyway and I can concentrate on Math better. And next year I can take a second year of Math besides Chemistry."

Rupert sighed. "I guess I should have expected this. I really didn't do very well."

"We've still got the Riddles club together." Pank reminded him. "And you can try again next year."

"I wanted something with actual competition, though." Danny finally stated still sounding slightly shocked.

It was however Dinah who took it the hardest. She simply turned around and bolted up the stairs to the dorms.

"Dinah! Dinah, wait!" Anny ran after her after the first moment of surprise and the rest of the girls followed, Danny forgetting her disappointment in a heartbeat.

Colleen was the last to reach the dorm. She didn't really know what to do right now. Dinah was the most socially acceptable of her dorm mates. After all she was definitely the daughter of a wizard and a witch, even if they were Hufflepuffs. Hufflepuffs did occur even in the best families, after all. It was embarrassing, of course, but not actually indecent.

Her parents would probably expect her to make friends with Dinah and the girl seemed nice enough, but she hadn't shown any signs of liking Colleen. It was probably proper to show her concern, but what if Dinah didn't want her there? And how did one show concern properly, if one hardly knew the person? She couldn't quite give Dinah a hug like her grandmother did to her whenever she was upset.

Staying in the common room would probably cut her off from the other girls again, though and Anny might not throw her a rope again. It was hard enough to just get them to tolerate her with Anny's help. She might not manage on her own at all. No, she could not waste this chance.

Colleen stepped into the dorm and found the other girls all assembled on Dinah's bed.

"You like Colleen better than me, don't you?" Dinah burst out between sobs. "You'd rather be with her."

Colleen froze in the door. Oh, what to do! Maybe she'd better leave after all.

"What?" Anny asked. "What does Colleen have to do with the Soccer team? She didn't even try out."

"But ... but I thought we'd have that together. Now you'll go without me."

"So?" Anny asked gently. "You're going to Gymnastics with Danny, I'm going to play Soccer with Pank and Billy and Colleen is going to French class with whomever she meets there. What's the problem?"

"We're not doing anything together." Dinah sobbed. "And Colleen hates me."

Anny looked to the others for help and finally noticed Colleen standing in the door looking confused. She shrugged.

"But that's not true." Colleen finally burst out. "I want to be your friend. ... I mean, I want to be friends with both of you. I just ... just ... Well, I'm not particularly good at it."

"Not good?" Danny sneered. "You told all of us that we're icky."

"So I had a bad day." Colleen snapped. "Hogwarts isn't quite what I expected. I was tired and in a bad mood."

"So we're supposed to suffer you moods, are we?" Danny hissed. "I think not."

She brushed past Colleen as she stalked out followed by Tullia.

Anny shrugged again. "I guess Danny's just in a bad mood today."

"It doesn't matter." Colleen decided. "I don't like her anyway. She's so vulgar and loud. I just ... I want to tell you two that you're not icky and I shouldn't have said that."

Anny was too much of a witch to be a Mudblood anyway, Colleen thought. Maybe her parents just hadn't told her that she was adopted, yet, or perhaps her father wasn't really her father and her mother didn't want him to know. Either way Anny was just Muggle raised. She could live with that, right?

"See, Dinah? Colleen doesn't hate you and we're still best friends." Anny coaxed. "Colleen is just another friend."

Dinah sniffled a little. "Sorry. I always was bad at sharing." She sat up rubbing her eyes. "I guess that's why I'm not a Hufflepuff."

Anny smiled. "Well, lucky you're not or we wouldn't be best friends."

"So what do we do to make it better?" Colleen asked still standing in the door.

They just looked at each other for a moment. Colleen had promised them to make friends with Dinah, but how did you go about that? How did one make friends after officially declaring the intention to?

"I know!" Anny said suddenly. "We can sit on the bed and share some chocolate. Mum gave me some for the trip that I never ate."

She jumped up and ran to her night stand.

Colleen walked over to Dinah's bed hesitantly and sat on the edge. "Muggle chocolate?"

"Oh, you've never eaten that, have you?" Dinah realised.

Colleen shook her head. "My grandmother never allowed me much candy. She said it's too common and bad for you. When I was very good, she sometimes let me have a chocolate frog or colour changing lollipop, though. Most other sweets were too undignified."

Anny and Dinah stared at her.

"No Fizzing Whisbies?" Dinah asked. "No Blowing Gum?"

"They attract undue attention." Colleen explained. "Children of good breeding should always remain in the background and not be noticed. I did try Everyflavour Beans on the train, though." She giggled at the memory of her little rebellion.

"Well, you don't have to worry about this." Anny explained returning to the bed with a flat wrapped up bar in her hand. "It tastes like chocolate frogs with nuts and that's all it does. Consider it today's second pudding."

She tore the paper open and offered it to Dinah who thanked her, broke off a rip and bit off a piece. Then she held it out to Colleen.

Colleen stared at the little brown rectangles for a moment. She'd never even seen anything like this! Cautiously she stretched out a hand and did exactly as Dinah had. That couldn't be wrong, right? At least Dinah seemed to have eaten Muggle chocolate before. She'd know how it was done.

She took a tiny bite. "Mmmh, that's good!"

"And your grandmother couldn't disapprove of it either, could she?" Anny grinned.

Colleen wasn't entirely sure of that. After all it was Muggle made and her grandmother heartily disapproved of Muggles. Still, what Grandmother didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

 

"Are you worried about that, too?" Tullia asked Danny suddenly.

Danny glanced up in surprise. They'd returned to the common room several minutes ago and were watching Rupert and Pank play chess. Tullia had been unusually quiet all this time, but for once Danny had no idea what she'd been thinking. She'd assumed that it was just another daydream, but this remark indicated that she'd been pondering something important.

"About what?" she asked back. "Rupert losing his bishop?"

Tullia laughed. "Of course not. No, I meant what Dinah said. That we're not doing any club together."

Danny shrugged.

"Because we can still change our choices today. I could sign up for Gymnastics, if you want." Tullia continued.

"But you don't like that." Danny added. "And I really wanted a competitive game. Something that's a little like Quidditch."

"Take Basketball then." Billy suggested. "It's a game where you have to throw balls though hoops."

Danny considered it. They'd never played Basketball in primary school, because their teacher had said that they were too small.

"You have to be very tall to play Basketball." she commented, but did get up to check the list anyway. "And these are all fourth years and above. I don't think we'd stand much of a chance against them."

Tullia looked a little sad at that.

"Wasn't there some other game the trainer mentioned?" Aterus remembered. "Bolleyball, or something like that. Why don't you try that?"

"Volleyball." Billy corrected. "That's nice. Very popular with girls. You have to push the ball over a net with your hands, but you're not allowed to catch it or to let it hit the floor. And you can't get run over by bigger opponents, because each team stays on its own side of the net."

"That sounds good." Tullia decided. "What do you think, Danny?"

Danny had never even heard of the game before, but it couldn't hurt, could it?

"Okay, lets give it a try. We can always quit, if we don't like it." she decided.

"Have you found a solution for the Sports clothes, yet?" Pank asked looking up from the his game. "I'm sure you won't be able to play Volleyball in your skirt either."

"Gangolf went to ask Professor Snape about it." Aterus reported. "He was worried about his Ballet class as well."

"Gangolf!" Rupert squeaked. "We sent Gangolf to ask for clothes?"

"I'm not going to Sports class in a tutu." Danny stated right away.

"We sent Gangolf to my Dad." Billy reminded them. "I assure you he knows what clothes we need for Sports and he probably wouldn't want to be seen with a tutu in his hand anyway."

"Still, you never know what Gangolf might ask for." Rupert frowned. "Professor Snape could transfigure our clothes again. Then he wouldn't have to touch them."

"That's a very temporary solution." Danny shook her head. "And, if he does, he can just give Gangolf his tutu and the rest of us normal clothes."

Gangolf returned about half an hour later looking deeply disappointed. "He said the problem has already been brought to the headmaster's attention and we should owl home and make due with whatever we can find right now. He thinks we probably won't do much in the first lesson anyway."

Tullia jumped up at the news. "Then I have to owl my parents right away!"

She dashed right up to the dorm where for some strange reason Anny, Dinah and Colleen were sitting on Dinah's bed giggling like mad.

"We have to owl home for Sports clothes." she told them as she ran past for pen and parchment. "The school isn't giving us any."

"Oh, but what will I wear tomorrow?" Colleen asked, but Tullia didn't stop to hear the answer.

She simply dashed back down to the common room where she could write more comfortably.

 

A/N: Was ff.net, its review system or its review alert system malfunctioning, or am I losing readers through this story? ... Okay, okay, better questions: Will Colleen find something to wear for Sports class? Will Danny get over the disappointment of not making the Soccer team?

 

In the next chapter: Our first years visit West Hogsmeade for the first time, Draco shows up again and Gangolf ends up in the girls' gym.


	12. Dear Parents

Chapter 12: Dear Parents

 

Dear Mum and Dad

How are you doing? Is everything okay at home?  
I'm fine. In fact, I couldn't be better. Hogwarts is wonderful. Classes are mostly interesting and my classmates are almost all very nice. Only Gangolf worries me a bit. He always keeps to himself and wants to become a ballet dancer. (I assure you my other friends are all perfectly normal, though!)  
Guess what: I'm playing Soccer. We had big tryouts today and my friend Billy suggested to try. Despite a lot of competition I really made it onto the team. I'm only a reserve player right now, but I might make the main team next year.  
Tomorrow we also have our first Sports class, which is said to be a lot of fun. Both for Sports and Soccer I am supposed to wear Muggle clothes, though. Could you please send me some? A pair of shorts and a t-shirt appear to be the usual apparel for Soccer an will do nicely for Sports as well.  
Please write back soon. I miss you both.

Love

Pank

 

Dearest Mummy

I hope your cold is better by now.  
Hogwarts is terrible, even though I am the top student in all my classes, except for Flying which I thoroughly dislike. The food is much too fat, but don't worry as I am taking care to eat mostly salad so I won't get fat. My classmates are okay, but very strange. They are messy and don't care about their looks at all. Instead they love to stay up late to play exploding snap or other wild games. They also love a strange and dangerous sport called Soccer, especially Billy, who appears to be a very wild and aggressive boy. He hasn't hurt me, yet, but I am doing my best to keep my distance from him and an equally aggressive girl called Danny (What a name for a girl!).  
The Gryffindors are the worst of them all, though. They waylay unsuspecting students in the corridors and the only way to stay safe is to always stay in a group when outside of our common room. The first time I innocently wandered away from my classmates I was jumped upon by their entire third year in a bathroom. I managed to fight them off heroically, but the experience has left me more cautious.  
Third years seem to be particularly dangerous altogether. Only yesterday I got hurt after being attacked by our own Slytherin group. Do not worry, if the school writes home about that. My injury was minor and my opponents ended up looking much worse than me.  
In more happy news I have signed up for ballet lessons. Could you please send me some proper clothes for that and for Sports class? I think pink should go well with my hair.  
Please give my regards to Dad, if he should call.

A thousand hugs and kisses

Gangolf

 

Hi Mum and Dad

I'm glad to hear that you are all well. Please do not worry about my being sorted into Slytherin. The house isn't nearly as bad as you remember it. All my classmates are wonderful and we have already formed a tight group of friends. Even Colleen, who seemed so icy at first has come around. It seems I just met her on a bad day. She's still very stiff, but I now know that she was taught to 'behave like a lady' by her grandmother who seems to be terribly old fashioned. Colleen never got out much before starting Hogwarts and is still slightly overwhelmed by the sudden change. In a smaller and more quiet circle she can be quite fun to talk to and she has already apologised for the things she said that first day. She really wants to be our friend.  
Anny is the most wonderful friend I've ever had. I got quite upset when I wasn't accepted into the school's Soccer team, but Anny consoled me and I'm fine with it now. I have decided to take Gymnastics together with Danny instead. (Anny made the team and is also joining the Acting club and Professor Snape said not to take more than two additional classes.)  
Of course I won't forget Hermy, Corinna and Lauri. We often have classes with Hufflepuff and I can always catch them at meals, if we don't. All three seem to be very happy in Hufflepuff house and have made some very nice friends. One of them is named Chorche (at least that's what it sounds like. I don't know how to spell it.) and is from Spain. He doesn't speak much English, but is really the nicest person you could imagine. We all love him dearly.  
Please give my best wishes to Uncle Marvin and Aunt Allissa. I wish I could be there for their anniversary.  
Say hi to Mandy, Pat, Samuel, Tita, Jerry and everybody else for me.

All my love

Dinah

 

Dear Mum

You were right, I really do like Hogwarts much better than my old school. Nobody here knows about Dad's little mishap and I am making lots of friends. The only downside is that I am so very far away from you.  
I'm doing fine and classes are okay as well.  
Can you please send me some Muggle style sports clothes? A t-shirt and trousers or shorts will do fine. It doesn't have to be anything special. I only need something comfortable to wear in Sports class.

Love

Rupert

PS. And please tell Dad to stay sober for me. Or at least not to apparate when drunk.

 

Esteemed Mother and Father,  
Cher Grandmere

I sincerely hope that you are all well and that this letter doesn't take too much of your time. I am however urgently in need of decent clothes for Sports class. We are required to wear trousers for that. Perhaps Grandmother knows of a kind of trousers a young lady can wear without being too forward?  
I also hope that my French is correct. Please correct me, if I'm wrong, as I have decided to learn French to further my education.  
Please disregard my earlier complaints about my classmates. They are still hopelessly common, but not altogether bad. I think I am well on the way to making friends with Dinah Laxter. The Laxters are traditionally a middle class Hufflepuff family, but Dinah seems to have the necessary ambition to do well in life and is the only other pureblooded witch in my year and house.

Regards

Colleen L. Nocturne

 

Hi Mum and Dad

Just writing to tell you that everything's fine and I'm taking Gymnastics and Volleyball as additional classes. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Anyhow, all my friends are writing home today, so I thought I should, too.

Hugs

Danny

 

Dear Mum and Dad

I hope you're doing well and don't miss me too much. I miss you terribly sometimes.  
You wouldn't believe all the exciting things that are happening here, though. I wouldn't want to miss it for the world!  
Today we had Soccer tryouts and when two of the boys didn't have any suitable clothes Professor Snape told a house elf to transfigure their robes into Soccer dresses. She simply snipped her fingers and they were suddenly wearing shorts and t-shirts!  
The day was so exciting that I almost didn't find time for my daily visit with Salazar!  
I am officially friends with Colleen now, though Dinah was a little upset about it. But everything is okay now and the three of us shared the chocolate you gave me when we said goodbye. Can you imagine that Colleen had never seen an ordinary piece of chocolate before? She's only ever eaten chocolate frogs!  
Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you I made the Soccer team. Eight of us tried out, but only Billy, Pank and I made it.

All my love from

your little witch Anny

 

Dear Mum

I know I just wrote you yesterday, but something important has come up. Can you please get me some Muggle clothes for Sports class? Professor Snape says my robes would get in the way and might make me trip. Billy says I need shorts, or jeans and something called a tea shirt. That's a strange bit of upper clothing that has neither ribbons nor buttons. You pull it over your head and stick your arms through little holes on the side. I know that sounds strange, but it is actually very comfortable when running. I already wore one for the Soccer tryouts today. Unfortunately I wasn't good enough, though, and didn't get on the team.

Hope to hear from you soon

Aterus

Ps: Regards to Father as usual

 

(translated from Mermish:)

Dear Mum and Dad

How are you? And how's everybody in the lake? Who's the new underwater polo champion? (Yes, I know I already asked you the same things yesterday, but I feel so terribly alone and cut off from the world here. I simply need to know.)  
I also urgently need a pair of shorts for Sports class and the Volleyball club. Volleyball is a ball game like underwater polo, but played on land. According to Billy you have to push the ball over a net without dropping it. Neither Danny nor I know any more about it than that, but she absolutely wanted to be on some ball team and we didn't make the Soccer team.  
Please write back as soon as possible. I am starving for some news from home.

Hugs and kisses

Tullia

 

Pank took the letters to the owlery early the next morning. Both Aterus and Colleen owned owls, but the rest of the mail had to go out via school owls. Almost all the assignments turned out to be problematic.

The only noteworthy exception was Aterus' owl who recognised Pank from his visits at breakfast and obediently held out his leg when he saw his master's letter in the boy's hand.

Colleen's dark feathered eagle owl on the other hand seemed to be in a bad mood this morning. She screeched and slashed at Pank until a tall Hufflepuff took pity and temporarily stunned her until Pank had attached the letter.

"Quite a beast you've got there." the boy commented after getting bitten for reviving the owl and letting it go.

"She's not mine, thankfully." Pank shook his head looking after the rapidly shrinking form of the owl. "She belongs to ... one of my friends. I suppose she just doesn't recognise me, yet."

The rest of the job wasn't nearly as dangerous, but still not as easy as Pank had expected it to be. There were over a hundred owls in the owlery, most belonging to students Pank didn't even know. How to tell them apart from the school owls he was looking for?

After staring around helplessly for a moment he decided that he could probably exclude all those fancy birds like snowy owls and special breeds like black eagle owls. Those were good looking, but more expensive than a common owl. A school bird's function was to provide a service, not to look flashy.

Pank decided to look for barn owls. They were common, not particularly impressive, but reliable and reasonably fast.

Still, not all students would own special breeds. There was nothing wrong with owning a good old barn owl after all. Pank took one look at a well groomed owl with a nice golden ring around her leg and crossed her off his mental list of possible candidates. No owls wearing ornaments.

Then he noticed the bird that had delivered his Hogwarts letter and beamed.

He walked up to the owl and asked him: "Hey, are you a school owl?"

"Hoot!" the bird perked up fluffing his feathers.

Pank decided to take that as a 'Yes, and proud of it.' "Excellent. Could you deliver this for me?"

He held out one of the letters and the owl visibly deflated and hunched down on his perch.

"What's wrong?" Pank asked confused.

"Hoot." the owl stated miserably.

The friendly Hufflepuff stepped in once again. "Let me see?"

Pank handed him the letter.

"Ah, of course." The Hufflepuff smiled. "You'll need an eagle owl for this one. Barn owls don't fly to Ireland. It's too hard for them to cross the ocean."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Pank apologised to the owl and put Rupert's letter at the bottom of his stack. "How about if I give you something else." Pank glanced at the next address. "Would you like to go to Leeds, perhaps?"

"Hoot!" Anny's letter met with a lot more enthusiasm.

The next two barn owls Pank approached were school owls as well and Tullia's and Gangolf's letters were quite welcome to them.

Then the Hufflepuff called out to Pank from the other end of the owlery. "Hey kid, I found an eagle owl for you."

The bird was a little grumpy, but didn't refuse Rupert's letter entirely.

After that Pank's luck ran out, though. The next three owls were private and some tiny ball of owl-fluff scratched him rather badly when he tried to force Dinah's letter on him in despair.

Once again his Hufflepuff helper rescued him. This time by capturing the owl in an expert grip and giving it a rough shake.

"You have to be cautious with this one." he explained. "He's a notorious hooligan."

Pank regarded the deep scratch in his hand for a moment. "Stupid dwarf. He probably wouldn't have been up to the journey anyway. Have you seen any more decent school owls?"

"The small female in the back." the Hufflepuff recommended right away. "She might not look like much, but she's a fast flyer. And the brown one to your right. He's slower, but very reliable and can deliver heavy packages."

That left Pank with only his own letter to mail, but now they were both out of ideas.

"One more bird," Pank sighed. "I need only one more."

"Hoot?" an old owl landed right in front of him offering her leg.

Pank looked towards the Hufflepuff questioningly.

He shrugged. "If she's offering, I suppose she must be sure she can handle the delivery."

"Alright owl." Pank decided. "Here you go."

He fixed the letter to her leg and watched her take off. She seemed to fly well enough, if a little more slowly than the younger birds.

"Thanks for your help." Pank turned to the Hufflepuff. "If there's anything I can do for you in return don't hesitate to ask."

"Ah, don't mention it."

"No really, you never know when you might need someone to do you a little favour." Pank insisted. "When you do just ask for me. My name's Pank. Slytherin first year."

"Elton, Hufflepuff fourth year." Elton held out his hand.

Well, Hufflepuffs tended to be a little weird, Pank had noticed. Here he was offering the boy a dept and was offered friendship in return. He smiled and took the hand wondering how it came that they kept finding new friends in Hufflepuff. What was it about that house?

 

The notice boards looked very empty when they walked past them that morning. All the lists had disappeared and there was only a small note saying that the club schedule would be up by lunch time and some clubs would already meet today.

"Oh, I can't wait." Colleen declared. "I'm so excited about starting to learn French."

"We've got to get through History and Herbology first, though." Rupert reminded them in an attempt to fill Pank's role in his absence.

"Great," Aterus moaned. "I'm not even fully awake, yet, and we have to sit through Binns' class first."

"I'll give you a kick, if you nod off." Billy promised. "It's not like he ever says anything that isn't in the book anyway." "Are you sure?" Tullia asked him. "Just because he didn't in the first two lessons doesn't mean he never does."

"I'm sure." Billy confirmed. "Dad told me. He had him, too, you know."

"Where's Pank?" Anny asked suddenly. "And Gangolf?"

"Pank's already left for the owlery." Rupert declared. "As for Gangolf ... Last time I asked he was just starting to apply his hair gel. I don't feel like waiting for Mr. Mirror all day, you know. I like to start the day with some food in my stomach."

Indeed, every time they'd waited until Gangolf emerged from the bathroom in the morning they'd ended up going to class hungry. How the boy managed to survive despite missing the most important meal of the day at least every second day was a mystery to them.

 

History of Magic was just as boring as it had been the first week. With the Gryffindors in the class it wasn't even possible to talk much, at least not abut private things. After all you never knew how a Gryffindor might misuse overheard information.

The Slytherins' energy returned quite suddenly when they stepped out of the castle on their way to Herbology and met their Hufflepuff classmates. By the time they reached the glass houses they were chatting animatedly, the clubs being the main topic of course.

"I Music Club." Jorge announced moving his fingers up and down in front of his mouth and mimicking blowing.

"Jorge plays the flute." Jon translated proudly. "He learned in school in Spain."

"Really?" Colleen was obviously trying to be nice. "I'm joining the Choir."

"Choir Club?" Jorge asked.

"Colleen sings." Anny translated. "You know: Do - re - mi!"

"Ah, speak music." Jorge nodded.

"Singing." Colleen corrected. "Singing."

"Singing." For a moment Colleen almost smiled when Jorge repeated the new word.

"Billy, Anny and Pank made the Soccer club." Dinah was telling her friends eagerly. "And Danny and I chose Gymnastics."

"Please class, settle down!" Professor Sprout had to call out twice before the students acknowledged her presence at all. "I'm really happy to see how well you all get along, but we do need to get some work done as well, I'm afraid."

In fact Professor Sprout loved teaching this class. It was rare that a group of students worked together so easily. So far only two of the Slytherins had shown any signs of possibly becoming problematic and the girl was doing much better today. Maybe she was just a little homesick last week and would be fine once she recovered.

Young Mr. Bartering's problem didn't seem to be of the social kind which she so often saw in Slytherins, either. He hadn't given any indication of looking down on her Hufflepuffs at all and was willing enough to work with them, but he appeared to be afraid of getting dirty.

That was a reaction she quite often saw in Slytherin girls, so it didn't surprise her that Ms Nocturne held her gardening tools rather awkwardly. In a boy it was unusual, though. Normally they enjoyed the chance to get out and do some physical work. Well, she'd just have to handle Mr. Bartering the way she did the girls.

"Don't be afraid of getting earth on your robes, children. I can perform a cleaning charm for you after the lesson." she assured the entire class not addressing anyone in particular.

A sudden clattering sound and a shriek from behind her. Sprout shot around.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a worm on my shovel!" Ms Nocturne shrieked.

"Ah, let me see."

The girl pointed at the shovel which she had dropped into the flower bed she'd been working in.

Professor Sprout walked over and picked it up. "Ah, I see. That's just an earthworm, dear, nothing to be afraid off." She gently picked the worm up to prove her statement. "They are completely harmless. All they do is wriggle around in the ground loosening the earth to make room for your plants' roots. Without them the earth would be much too hard and the plants can't grow, you see. Earthworms are our friends."

"They're icky." the girl insisted. "Pink and naked and wriggly.", but it was Mr. Bartering who went pale and stared at her hand in horror.

Sprout gently set the worm back onto the earth. "You don't have to touch them, if you don't like them." she assured the students. "I just want you to know that there's no harm, if you do. Earthworms can't even bite."

"C ... can I use my dragon hide gloves next time, please?" Ms Nocturne begged.

Professor Sprout smiled and pulled out her box of gardening gloves. "You can borrow a pair of these, if it'll make you feel more comfortable. That goes for all of you, of course."

Several students took her up on that offer, but most returned the gloves after a short time noticing that it was easier to work without them. Ms Nocturne became more daring once her hands were safely covered, which Sprout decided was a good start. Now the only real problem in this class seemed to be Mr Bartering's worm-phobia. He too had put on a pair of gloves, but still wasn't working.

Despite that the Hufflepuff-Slytherin first year class was making much better progress than the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw one. As often with their house none of the Gryffindors had a particular interest in plants and they lacked the patience to plant them with the proper care as well as the theoretical knowledge.

The Ravenclaws on the other hand had apparently all read ahead and were bored with the Gryffindors' slow theoretical progress, while at the same time many of them abhorred dirt or were at least very clumsy with the tools. Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw was therefore usually the best combination for Herbology, but it also meant that the other class would be Slytherin-Gryffindor, which was the worst combination ever. Not only were those classes unlikely to pay attention and accident prone, they never got along to top it off.

Gryffindor-Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw-Slytherin was how she'd arrange all her classes, if it were up to her. Neither combination was perfect, but they were rarely problematic. This year Slytherin-Hufflepuff was fine, though.

Sprout smiled happily to herself.

 

The moment Professor Sprout let them out of the glass house the students took off for the common room at a run. At the great doors of the castle Pank cast a quick look back over his shoulder and noticed that Gangolf had fallen behind again and was clutching his side, but he was too excited to wait and Jorge and Jon were already heading back for him anyway.

Colleen and Dinah were lagging a little behind the rest as well, but not far enough to worry him. They'd catch up once the faster runners had to slow down.

Despite the delicious smells coming out of the great hall they dashed right past it and down into the dungeons. Mrs Norris mewed a complaint as they thundered past Filch's office, but the Caretaker was nowhere in sight. Most likely he was already at lunch.

The entrance to the Slytherin common room stood open when they arrived and there was a lot of pushing and shoving as the students who were only just arriving tried to get in, while those who'd already checked the notice board were trying to get back out and to the great hall.

Danny as usual was the first to plunge into the crowd and the others tried their best to follow in her wake, but were soon separated in the pushing masses. By the time Pank stumbled into the common room Billy, Aterus and Danny were already standing in front of the notice board looking thoroughly disappointed. "Duelling, Music and Poetry club members have their first meetings today." Danny reported. "Volleyball isn't until tomorrow."

"What about Soccer?" Pank gasped still trying to regain his breath.

"Thursday." answered Billy.

"But the Chess Club starts tomorrow." Aterus perked up a little.

"And the Riddles Club?" Pank asked hopefully.

"Friday." declared Danny.

"When do we have Soccer training?" Anny didn't sound nearly as out of breath as Pank felt, but at least he'd arrived faster.

"Thursday and your first Acting class is on Wednesday." Danny answered.

Anny regarded the list. "Colleen will be happy. Her first French lesson's tomorrow already."

They had to wait a little until the girl finally arrived, though. Colleen wasn't one to fling herself into a big shoving pile of students and waited for it to thin out a little before finally rejoining the rest of the group.

Gangolf still was nowhere to be seen by the time she reached the others.

"Oh, I hope he didn't end up in the hospital wing again." Pank sighed.

"Nonsense." Danny snapped at him. "I'm sure Mirrorboy just lost us and went straight to the great hall. He's probably already enjoying his pudding while we're all going hungry waiting for him."

Pank considered that for a moment then nodded. "Alright, lets go to lunch. If we don't find Gangolf there we can at least ask the Hufflepuffs what happened to him."

 

The next big event of the day for the Slytherins was their first Sports class and they soon noticed that time was a little short for that.

Right after Latin they hurried down into the dungeons to dump their bags and grab their Sports clothes, or whatever they were using in place of Sports clothes for the moment. They had only a minute left until the start of their class by the time they arrived in Filch's office.

Several other students were already there and Colleen thought she'd seen some of them in the Slytherin common room before. Judging from their size they had to be second or third years.

Filch grumpily demanded their names and checked them off on some list.

"Ms Allendale and Ms Samson?" he demanded suddenly, glaring at the older students.

A tall blonde shrugged at him haughtily. "Who cares?"

Filch's look darkened even more and Colleen tried to unobtrusively step behind Anny and Dinah.

"It's okay." Dinah whispered to her. "He's just annoyed because she's so impolite. As long as you mind your manners he's not so bad, just a little grumpy."

"We all care, Ms Courtier." Filch declared. "Because until they arrive we cannot leave and you will be late for your class. We cannot take the portkey until everybody is here."

"Freya went up to the hospital wing, I think." one of the boys said. "Something about suddenly bleeding. I didn't see any wounds on her, though."

Huh? What was that about? Why was Filch blushing and Anny and Danny giggling all of a sudden.

"Well, I suppose Ms Allendale can be forgiven then, but where is Ms Samson? Madam Pomfrey should be quite capable to treat ... that wound ... without assistance."

As if on cue two girls burst though the door.

"Sorry, Mr. Filch. Female problems." one of them burst out all red in the face.

"And here I thought second years were too young for that." Filch mumbled to himself.

"I'm thirteen." the other girl frowned at him. "What? So I started school a year late. My mother thought it best."

Filch waved her off. "Whatever. Everybody get a good hold on this rope."

The rope looked rather old and worn and normally Colleen would have thought twice about touching the probably filthy thing, but she'd travelled by portkey often enough to understand the importance of holding on tightly. She definitely didn't want to be left behind.

There was a surprised yell from Anny as the portkey activated and the moment they arrived Anny tumbled into her.

Together Colleen and Dinah managed to steady their Muggle born friend, but the boys weren't that lucky. Gangolf somehow took both Billy and Rupert down with him as he fell.

A stranger in blue jeans and a green shirt looked down at the boys with an amused smile. "First time with a portkey? Well, you'll get used to it in time." he commented, then turned to Mr. Filch. "Hello again, Argus. You're a little late this time. Problems?"

"Oh, no no, one of the girls just had to make a little detour to the hospital wing that delayed us. Nothing to worry about." Filch returned. "Now children, this is my old friend Mr. Smith the caretaker of West Hogsmeade Wizarding School. If you give him any problems, I've got some thumbscrews back in my office that are in bad need of a workout. Understand?"

"I'm supposed to take orders from a filthy Muggle?" the blonde girl asked scandalised.

Colleen felt for her, though she was too clever to show it. If she'd learned anything at Hogwarts so far, it was that one did not tell people that they were icky to their face. She'd just avoid Smith as much as possible.

"Muggles are often more decent people than some wizards." Mr Smith declared while Filch glowered as never before.

"Muggle?" Filch finally yelled. "Muggle? Mr Smith happens to be one of only two Hogwarts graduates at this school. In fact he was a Slytherin just like yourself. You dare call him a Muggle?"

"I'm quite fine with being mistaken for a Muggle, Argus." Mr. Smith put a hand on Mr. Filch's shoulder to calm him.

Colleen had to admire Smith's courage. Maybe she wouldn't avoid him after all.

"Well, you just tell me, if any of the little brats give you any more lip." Filch grumbled. "And keep an eye on that Courtier girl. She's the bad apple in this group from what I've seen. Typical pureblood."

"Hey!" Dinah, Pank and Aterus complained and Colleen dared to look at Filch accusingly as well.

Filch actually smiled a little at that. "Well, some purebloods, anyway."

Smith laughed. "Come on then." he waved at them to follow him out of the room, which was probably his office, Colleen decided.

West Hogsmeade Wizarding school was strangely light and its walls seemed very straight and barren except for lines of small metallic cupboards in the hallway.

"Mr. Filch doesn't really mean it, you know." Smith informed them once he had closed the door behind him. "He's just teasing." He patted Colleen on the shoulder making her start. "No need to be afraid."

She nodded and smiled up at him slightly.

"A bit of a shy girl, are you?" Smith smiled back at her. "But that's okay. We aren't in Gryffindor after all."

"Who'd want to be?" one of the older boys commented.

"Draco!" a sudden yell from Billy interrupted the beginning conversation.

Colleen turned around to where the boys had been walking along behind them and saw Billy plunging into the open arms of a tall blond wizard in Muggle clothes. That was his brother?

"I suppose Billy's mother must be blonde." Danny commented after a moment.

"Sarah Snape?" Mr. Smith laughed. "Oh no. Draco's adopted. They say he's the biological son of a cousin of one of the Snapes whose parents died when he was still a teen. So the Snapes took him in and adopted him. That's just a rumour, though. Draco himself won't say and I won't bother him about it. Around here bloodline doesn't mean as much as at Hogwarts. It's more important who you live with."

"But aren't the people you live with the ones you share blood with?" Colleen asked confused.

"Unless you're adopted, or your parents divorce and remarry." Smith suggested. "A lot of children have stepparents here."

Divorce! Colleen shuddered. Her father had threatened her mother with that a few times when she'd been smaller, but since her brother had been born it had apparently stopped. Still divorce was a serious danger. Colleen definitely didn't want a stepmother.

Meanwhile the brothers had embraced and kissed and now Billy was dragging Draco over by one hand.

"Oh Billy, I really need to get to my next class." Draco laughed, but followed anyway.

It had to be wonderful to have a big loving brother like that.

"Just a moment." Billy pleaded. "You just have to meet Aterus. And that's Pank and Rupert and Anny and Danny, Dinah, Colleen .... Oh, and that one's called Gangolf. He's a bit weird. Aterus is really cool, though. He lives in a big manor. Honest, it must be huge. Everybody in his family has their own bedroom and there are still some left for guests."

Draco laughed at that. "That's probably just an ordinary manor, Billy. Lots of rich families have them."

Didn't the Snapes have a manor? Well, maybe not. Considering that Professor Snape worked at Hogwarts and Draco here in Hogsmeade, they probably found a townhouse in Hogsmeade more practical.

"Listen Billy," Draco interrupted Billy's chaotic non-stop introduction. "I really have to work now, but we can talk after your Chemistry lesson on Wednesday, okay?"

Billy nodded sadly. "I miss you." he said hugging Draco one last time.

"I miss you, too, but I'll see you in two days. That's not so long, is it?" Draco ruffled Billy's hair then headed back towards the stairs.

The group started walking once again.

"Draco! I made the Soccer team!" Billy remembered suddenly. "I'm an attacker!"

If Draco had heard his brother, Colleen didn't hear his answer, but then she was distracted by the two doors between which Mr. Smith stopped. One was marked with a drawing of a Muggle girl and the other with one of a Muggle boy.

"Okay, here we are." Mr. Smith announced. "These are the changing rooms. You're already late so I suggest that you change fast. Boys in here, girls over there."

Colleen suddenly felt very nervous again as she followed Anny though the door with the girl-drawing. This was the moment she'd dreaded all day. Now she'd have to change into the clothes Anny and Dinah had picked out for her to use until her proper Sports clothes arrived.

"Are you sure that I should wear this?" she held the trousers under Anny's nose one last time. "It's my winter underwear."

"They're perfectly fine leggings." Anny hissed back. "Lots of girls wear those in Sports class. Nobody has to know. And there are only girls here, anyway. No wizards will see them."

Colleen was sure that she blushed anyway.

The other girls already there were indeed all wearing either shorts like Anny's or things that looked just like Colleen's winter underpants. Maybe this was really okay, but did she have to undress in front of these people?

She took another insecure look at the strangers. Had she seen some of them before?

"Do some of them seem familiar to you?" she asked Anny who had already slipped out of her school robe.

Anny blinked at her uncomprehendingly, but Dinah nodded eagerly.

"Of course, Maggie, Angie and Ilsa are in our Flying class." she confirmed. "Only three of them are really strangers."

"And the four that came with us." Colleen reminded her. "Slytherins, or not, I don't know them."

"A week ago you didn't know us either." Anny slipped into her shorts and grabbed for her t-shirt. "They'll introduce themselves soon enough."

Colleen looked towards the older Hogwarts girls again. The girl called Freya was pulling on her trousers while still wearing her robe to preserve modesty. What a brilliant solution!

Colleen decided to imitate that.

This at least spared her from showing too much of her legs and afterwards she turned towards the wall, so nobody except for the two girls beside her could see her breasts. Those two happened to be Anny and Tullia, who she supposed were trustworthy enough. The room was terribly small for that many girls, so they were close enough to cover her from the others' view.

"Finished?" a witch's voice asked behind her.

Colleen quickly pulled Anny's t-shirt down to cover herself, then turned around. A small witch with short red hair was standing in the second door of the room smiling at them. She too was wearing long underpants and a very form fitting t-shirt like thing.

"Then come on in." she waved at the room behind her invitingly, but when the blonde girl started to walk past her, she held out her arm. "Stop! No shoes in the gym. Either put on special sports shoes, or go barefoot. Don't walk in stockings either. You'd slip. And where are your Sports clothes?"

"I don't have any." the girl sneered at the teacher and Colleen was suddenly very glad to have at least come up with something to wear."

"They weren't on our equipment list." one of the other girls explained. "We had to owl our parents to send them, but some of us come from quite far away. It will take some time until the clothes get here."

The teacher's eyes swept over the room checking out the clothes of each of the girls.

"Most of your fellow Hogwarts students were able to come up with something suitable to wear, though." she commented. "I guess it will have to do for today, but I will not accept robes or a skirt again next week. Now take off your shoes and form a line in there. Smallest to tallest."

"Er ... do you have any idea what she means?" Colleen asked Anny.

"She means to line up sorted by size. The smallest on one end, the tallest on the other." Anny nodded.

Colleen blinked at her, then at the strange room they found behind the door. "How do I know how tall I am?"

The teacher smiled. "Just stand where you think you fit in and I'll sort you out."

The line ended up obviously wrong. Anny who insisted on being much too short for her age and hence the smallest took one end with Colleen and Dinah next to her. Then followed Tullia and Danny, who claimed to be the tallest. After her came the older Slytherins, with thirteen year old Freya at the end and standing next to much smaller Ilsa. Next there was an even smaller girl Colleen had never seen before, then Maggie and Angie and finally the last two strangers.

"Oh dear." the teacher laughed. "Hogwarts really didn't understand why we said to put the smallest second years with the tallest first years, did they? They completely forgot. Well, lets see what we can do. You one, two, three, four, five," she counted off starting with Freya down to Danny. "Move over to Catty's end for a start."

"Er ... who's Catty?" Freya asked.

"Me!" waved the girl down at the other end. "Over here."

"See, I told you I'm tallest." Danny declared as they walked off.

"You, with the red curls." the teacher pointed.

"I'm Maggie, Professor."

The teacher nodded. "To this end of the line Maggie. No, not quite. One position to the left. Yes, that's better."

Colleen didn't feel better at all with Maggie between her and Anny.

"And you, pretty pony tail ..."

"What me?" Colleen gasped. Nobody had ever called her pretty before!

"Yes, you." the teacher confirmed. "Switch places with black hair."

"Dinah." Dinah corrected.

The teacher picked up a piece of parchment from the floor. "Alright, Dinah. And we had Maggie right before. I already know Catty and Mai-Lin. And pretty pony tail's name is?"

"Colleen."

"Colleen." the teacher confirmed checking her off on her list. "The tiny blonde at the end?"

"Anny." Anny answered apparently unbothered by being called tiny.

"Anny ... Anny ..." the teacher scanned through her list twice. "Short for Mary Anne perhaps?"

Anny nodded.

"Ah, there you are, then." the teacher declared happily. "And long black curls would be?"

"Tullia." Tullia stated.

"Then short brown hair must be Daniella."

"No, I'm Ilsa!" the girl who had ended up next to Tullia shrieked.

"Oh, sorry Ilsa. Could you step between Colleen and Tullia, please? No, not quite. Between Colleen and Dinah. Next? Are you Daniella, perhaps?"

"I'm Dolly." the stranger insisted.

"Okay, you should fit nicely between Tullia and Colleen, Dolly. Yes, perfect. Then Mai-Lin next to Tullia and you would be?"

"Angie."

"Angie and the girl with the bun."

"I'm Stephanie Dour." the girl who always stood next to Ms Courtier said.

"That hairstyle is rather impractical for Sports." the teacher recommended. "A simple pony tail would be much better next time. Angie and Stephanie, then you with the short red hair..."

Danny pouted and glared at the teacher.

"That's Daniella." Colleen heard herself say.

"Danny!" Danny insisted.

"Danny." the teacher confirmed. "Then Catty, freckles ..."

"My name is Serpentia, not Freckles! Serpentia Samson!"

"Well, that is quite an unusual name." the teacher returned unperturbed by the outburst. "Then you with the robes must be either Freya or Jolanda."

"Miss Courtier to you."

Colleen shook her head at this. Didn't this girl realise what she was doing to herself?"

"You know something, Nocturne," Tullia said suddenly. "You're not the worst after all. This one is worse."

Was that meant to be an insult or a compliment?

"Miss Arrogance and Freya, then." the teacher stated calmly. "Please remember your neighbours. We will need to sort you by size quite often."

Colleen took a good look at Ilsa and Dolly hoping that she'd recognise both of them again. Today she hadn't been able to name any of the girls from Flying class.

"Now since not all of you are dressed properly, we'll start with a simple game of Catch. You should all be able to run in the clothes you're ..." the teacher started, but broke off her sentence when the door opened behind her.

"Hi, I'm Gangolf Bartering."

 

A/N: What is Gangolf doing in the girls' gym? What is Rupert's secret? And will they get their Sports clothes in time for their next Sports class?

 

In the next chapter: We find out what happened to the boys while the girls were lining up, Colleen goes to French class and Gangolf is feeling embarrassed.


	13. Boys and Girls

Chapter 13: Boys and Girls

 

When the boys entered their changing room Billy was immediately greeted and dragged into a corner by Jimmy Harson.

Gangolf stared at the two with slight worry. What did the West Hogsmeade kid want with his classmate? Not that he was too worried about aggressive Billy coming to harm, but what if that monstrous half-goblin got a similar idea and grabbed him?

"Billy told me they went to primary school together." Aterus told him softly. "Him, Jimmy and Isran, too. They're old friends."

That was friendly behaviour for West Hogsmeade kids, then? And no wonder Billy was scary, if he'd had to put up with those monsters for five years. What had Professor Snape been thinking to send his son to school with ... with creatures like that!

"Aren't you going to change?" Rupert asked him.

He was already wearing a slightly too large pair of trousers he'd apparently borrowed from an older student and a spare t-shirt from Billy.

Gangolf wrinkled his nose at the sight, but did slip out of his robe and started folding it up.

"Well then, come on inside!" a teacher appeared in the door behind them.

Gangolf blinked at him for a moment, then continued to take off his shoes while the other students disappeared through the door.

The teacher smiled at him. "Not ready, yet? Hurry up then. You don't want to miss out on the fun."

Fun? Gangolf couldn't see what could possibly be considered fun about this class. It was all about doing dangerous things and getting dirty and sweaty.

Still he'd probably better not miss too much of it, or he might be put into detention, or even worse, have to stay after to complete his exercises. He put his shoes under the bench neatly and walked into the classroom in his socks.

Classroom? Whatever kind of classroom was this?! It was all empty with weird wooden things against the walls!

His classmates and the dangerous strangers were sitting on the ground in a circle along with the teacher who waved at Gangolf to join them.

"Well, hello then, class." the teacher greeted them as soon as Gangolf had sat down between Aterus and Pank. "As you have probably guessed already, I am your Sports teacher, but please don't call me Professor. I'm not much for formalities. I'd much prefer, if you simply call me Pit."

What a weird teacher, but none of Gangolf's classmates seemed to be very surprised.

"Now, I already taught some of you last year and I recognise some faces from the Soccer tryouts." the teacher continued and Gangolf suddenly understood the lack of surprise. "But some faces are still unfamiliar and I'm not sure I remember all of your names. I'm sure I recognise Billy and Pank." he nodded towards the boys. "And I believe you are Rupert and ... Anthony?"

"Aterus." Aterus corrected.

"Aterus." Pit repeated. "I knew it was something with A.

"I'm Anthony." one of the older boys volunteered.

"Anthony." Pit confirmed. "And next to Anthony we have Keith, right?"

Keith nodded.

"So, who are the two between Keith and Rupert, then?"

"I'm Damian and his name's Thor." a dark blonde boy reported.

"Anthony, Keith, Thor, Damian, Rupert, Aterus." Pit listed pointing at each boy in turn coming to a stop at Gangolf. "And you are?"

"Gangolf." Gangolf answered obediently.

"Gangolf, Aterus, Billy ..."

"Jimmy." Jimmy continued the list without waiting to be asked.

"Isran."

"Gangolf, Aterus, Billy, Jimmy and Isran." Pit repeated happily. "So which ones of you are first years?"

Gangolf raised his hand along with his classmates, Jimmy and Isran.

"Well, we have a problem, you see." Pit said. "There are seventeen of you in this class, but I can't allow more than sixteen, so one of you will have to join the girls' class."

"The girls?" somebody gasped. Gangolf couldn't tell who it had been, one of the group that wasn't first years in any case.

"Only for the actual lessons." Pit explained. "He'll still use the boys' change room, of course and it's only for first year. Next year we'll recombine the classes and if there are still too many boys, one of the new first years will have to go. ... Any volunteers?"

"Not Billy!" Jimmy called right away. "I hardly ever see him anymore."

"And not Aterus either." Billy added. "He's my best friend."

"I don't want to be separated from Pank." said Rupert.

"Maybe you'd best discuss this amongst yourselves?" Pit suggested. "Perhaps there's one of you who has a friend in the girls' class."

"It's either Gangolf or Isran." Pank decided.

"I'm not a girl!" both of them shouted at once.

"But you don't like Sports." Billy smirked at Gangolf. "I bet the girls' class is easier than ours."

"Yes, girls aren't as strong as boys, so they probably don't have to lift as heavy weights." Aterus agreed.

"And you're practically a girl anyway." Rupert teased. "Taking Ballet. I bet there'll be only girls in there with you as well. Might as well get used to it now."

"But I'm a boy." Gangolf protested. "I'm part of the group."

"The girls are part of the gang as well." Billy pointed out. "It's not like we're leaving you to fend for yourself. Danny will lead the girls' group. I'm sure she can protect you, if any disobedient brooms should show up in that class."

"So, have you reached a decision?" Pit asked much too soon.

"Yes, Gangolf." six fingers pointed at him.

"Well then, Gangolf. It's right across the corridor. Just walk right back through the changing room and into the room with the girl symbol on the door. You'll find a second door in there which leads right into the girls' gym. My colleague is expecting you. Just tell her your name and that I sent you."

Gangolf suppressed a sob, nodded and slunk out of the gym. Now the others didn't only consider him a coward, they even thought he wasn't really a boy. What an insult! How could they not want him? The great Gangolf Bartering, best Hogwarts student ever!

Ha, he'd show them. He'd be so much better than the girls that they had to send him back. After all how hard could a girls' class be?

With new confidence Gangolf strode through the girls' change room and opened the door at its other end.

"Hi, I'm Gangolf Bartering."

"Ah, did Pit send you over to join our class?" the teacher smiled a little.

"Yes, Professor. There were too many boys, so I decided to help out."

"That's very kind of you, Gangolf." the teacher said. "You should fit nicely between Maggie and Colleen." She pointed at a spot between Colleen and another girl who moved over to make some room.

Seeing that all the girls were standing in line, Gangolf decided that that probably meant that he was supposed to join them and stepped into the opening.

"Oh my." the teacher exclaimed surprised. "You're even shorter than I thought. You should go between Anny and Maggie instead."

What? Short? Gangolf felt his face turn red as the line rearranged itself around him once again.

"Okay girls," the teacher declared happily completely ignoring the fact that there was a real boy in their midst. "For our first lesson we'll play a little game of catch. Who wants to be it?"

Several hands went up right away.

"Okay, Ilsa." the teacher decided and waved one of the girls over to her. "Everybody else, you have until three to get away. One ... Two ... Thee, go!"

And the girl apparently called Ilsa was off chasing after them. The girls dashed away squealing with false fear. Gangolf tried to follow Anny, but his stocking clad feet slipped and the girl was gone. Well, never mind, he'd just ...

"Got you!" a hand slapped him on the shoulder. "You're it!"

"Gangolf's it! Eeee ..." the girls squealed.

Well, he'd show them. He took off after Maggie who was squealing the loudest, but she dove in between two taller girls. Gangolf recognised Danny, but she ducked away and was gone. He stopped short for a moment, then launched for Freya, but a long jump carried her out of his reach and his feet slipped out from under him.

A sharp whistle.

"Gangolf, I think you should take off your socks before I restart the game." the teacher declared.

"But then my feet will get cold and I'll get sick." Gangolf protested.

"Nonsense." the teacher snorted. "Not while you're running around."

"Oh, does little Gangolf require a warming charm on his little toes?" Danny teased.

"I could cast one for you if you beg nicely." a Chinese looking girl suggested haughtily, much to the enjoyment of the rest of the class.

"Why should you?" said another girl Gangolf didn't know. "He's just a little crybaby."

"Yeah, should I get you some pepper-up from Madame Pomfrey?" one of the older Hogwarts girls sneered.

"He ought to be able to find the hospital wing on his own at his age, Stephanie." Freya chastised her.

"Come on, Gangolf." Even Anny was against him! "Just take off the stupid socks so we can play."

"Yes, you're spoiling the game, Mirrorboy." Colleen added. "And just when I was beginning to enjoy it."

Oh well, they had a point about pepper-up potion. He really could go to Madame Pomfrey for some, if he caught a cold from this.

With a sigh Gangolf took off his stockings and stuffed them into his pocket.

Another whistle restarted the game and he was off after stupid Colleen Nocturne with her constant sneering. It was easier to run barefoot he had to admit, but Colleen still got away when he took a swipe at Tullia who was dancing past him.

"God, that boy's slow." Danny groaned somewhere behind him. "Even Nocturne outruns him easily. Where's the fun in that?"

"Come on, Gangolf, catch me, catch me, catch me!" Dinah was hopping up and down waving at him, but she was long gone by the time Gangolf reached that end of the room.

He was panting and had a stitch in his side and now there were five girls dancing around him just out of reach, laughing and teasing.

 

Meanwhile Pit had decided that after all the Soccer games he'd seen on the weekend they should play hand ball for a change. Not that any of them really knew the rules. They simply formed two teams and Pit made sure that there were an equal number of students from each school and year on each team and then everybody just tried to throw the ball into the opposing team's goal.

Billy was sure that there was supposed to be more to playing hand ball than that, but it was a lot of fun and Pit insisted that it gave him an idea of their abilities and constitution.

Aside from the fact that Billy was convinced that West Hogsmeade second year Tommy Leads was secretly enhancing his throws with levitation spells it was also a quite fair and even game. He hardly minded when his team lost in the end.

Gangolf trudged back in while they were changing back, looking exhausted and miserable.

"Gangolf is such a loser." Danny told them on the way back to Mr. Smith's office. "The professor had to relieve him of being it three times, because he's too slow to catch anyone. Honest, Nocturne's faster than him and she's in no shape at all."

"Yes, why did you have to send us the spoilsport, anyway?" Freya demanded. "Why not Anthony. He's a lot more fun."

"Pit said it had to be a first year." Billy explained. "Anyway, he was the only one nobody was going to miss and he behaves like a girl all the time, too."

"Do not." Gangolf pouted.

"Yes, you do." Pank declared. "In fact you're more girly than the girls. Except Colleen perhaps."

"What me? Why me?"

"Well, you don't like worms and you're fussy about your looks." Tullia stated.

"Fussy?" Colleen repeated. "Fussy? Because I don't drop my robes in the middle of the floor where they'll get all wrinkled? I do not spend all of my spare time in front of a mirror. Or starve myself to death."

"Oh yes?" Danny asked. "What was that about the spaghetti, then?"

"I'd never eaten any before." Colleen defended herself. "I didn't know how. And I was homesick anyway. Didn't have an appetite."

"Spaghetti are fun to eat." Anny stated. "I'll show you how next time we get them."

"Oh please!" groaned Jolanda Courtier. "Not those ugly tangle noodles again!"

"They were good, even if it is hard to eat them." Aterus pointed out.

"Babies." huffed Jolanda and refused to talk any more for the rest of the trip back to Hogwarts.

 

Tuesday, right after the sixth lesson was the first meeting of the Volleyball Club. Tullia and Danny were so excited they could hardly sit still during Transfigurations causing Professor McGonagall to take a total of six points from Sylytherin and Tullia's needle to end up crooked.

The moment McGonagall finally let them out they took off for Filch's office, followed to their dismay by Sophie-Marleene Patter-Hendrics and ugly Laura Warthay. All hopes that the two Gryffindors might be going elsewhere died when they reached the dungeons and Danny could only pray for them to be put into a different group.

They had already noticed that the schedule listed five different Volleyball classes, so there was a chance.

Filch's office was full of excited students from all years who were all talking at once. It seemed most of them had already played the game before and knew everything about it.

"Do you think they'll even let us stay once they find out we don't even know the rules?" Tullia asked nervously.

"Of course they will." Danny willed it to be so. "They didn't say anything about tryouts, did they? It's just a fun class. Noone will care."

Tullia didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything more.

"Silence!" Mr. Filch yelled over the crowd. "There are too many of you to go all at once, so we'll just send you over in groups. When I call your name come up to the front and take hold of the portkey. Patter-Hendrics, Sophie-Marleene?"

"Here!" yelled the annoying Gryffindor and squeezed herself through to the front.

"Warthay, Laura?" Filch continued and the second Gryffindor followed her.

Next it was Danny's turn and then Tullia's. They took care to take the opposite end of the rope from the Gryffindors. Filch didn't seem to mind. He simply continued reading out names until he reached McQuire, Howard.

"McQuire?" he repeated after a second of nothing happening. "Howard McQuire? Has anyone seen Howard McQuire?"

Apparently nobody had. In fact, Danny hadn't even known there was anyone by that name at Hogwarts at all.

"So what happens now?" one of the older students asked.

"Nothing." Filch decided. "He's probably just a little late. I'll pass over his name and try again later. Anderson, Felinda?"

Soon Filch decided that their portkey was full and they ported into Mr. Smith's office once again. Filch immediately grabbed the rope and ported back to Hogwarts while Smith waved them towards the door.

"The change rooms, just like Sports class." he told them. "You know the way. The club meets in the girls' gym, but boys please wait until the professor calls you over. We don't want you running in on any changing girls."

When they stepped out of Smith's office West Hogsmeade looked completely different than it had the day before, though. The corridor was filled with green robed students who were laughing, shouting and pushing in every direction.

"Hey look, it's a bunch of Hogwarts nerds!" a very fat girl called. "Get lost posh-kids! We don't want your kind here!"

Several other students called out similar threats, but most just glanced their way and continued towards wherever they'd been headed.

"Oh, shut it, Tessa." a tall black boy said lazily, but still loud enough to be heard. "They're just a bunch of kids."

"Yeah, better get your essay done or Proffessor Tiller'll give you detention tomorrow." another girl said.

"What, you mean she still hasn't handed it in?" the black boy asked her incredulously.

Danny breathed a sigh of relief when the West Hogsmeade kids took to discussing Tessa's habit to forget homework and lost interest in their group. She didn't think any of the first group ported over were above fourth year and Tessa looked like she was at least sixteen. Danny certainly didn't like the odds, if they got into a fight.

The changing rooms were overflowing with students. Clearly they weren't made for such numbers and not only were there a lot of Hogwarts students still on the way, additional West Hogsmeade students arrived every few minutes as well.

The first years were forced to move on into the gym and change there, because there was no way they could have gotten a spot on one of the fought over benches. Even Danny had to accept that she wasn't strong enough to compete with these fighters when she saw one girl pull out a pocket knife to threaten a seventh year with.

The teacher turned out to be the same one they'd had in Sports class and aside from a sharp "Davie, put that knife away!" she didn't seem bothered by the goings on at all.

A little while after she had passed through the boys started streaming in and the situation got even worse until everybody was finally sitting on the floor in the gym.

"Okay, today will be mostly for logistics." the teacher announced. "I want you to come to me one by one for a little talk, so I can determine what team to put you in. In the meantime grab some balls to practise with."

There was a loud shout and suddenly everybody was running towards the equipment room where the balls were apparently kept. Tullia jumped up along with everybody else and started to follow them, but Danny grabbed her arm and pulled the other way.

"Come on. If we don't go now, we'll be last." she explained while dragging her friend over to the teacher.

"I'll probably put both of you in group five anyway." the teacher was just telling two very tall girls. "I can't promise that you'll be on the same team, though. It depends on how good the other players are and with all the new people this year I just don't know, yet."

"But Jo's my very best friend in the whole world." one of the girls pleaded.

"And you will train together." the teacher promised once again. "I just don't want to put both of you in one team, if that means the other side will have only beginners. It wouldn't be any fun to have such uneven teams."

The girls finally stomped off complaining loudly about the Hogwarts students lowering the quality of their club and the teacher finally turned to Danny and Tullia.

"Ah, you two are in that class with the boy, aren't you?" she asked. "You're the girl with the skirt."

Tullia nodded a little shyly.

"These clothes do fit in here much better." the teacher smiled at her.

"They're Anny's, though." Tullia explained. "She doesn't need them today, so I could borrow them. My parents still haven't owled me any sports clothes of my own."

"They haven't had much time, yet." Danny reassured her. "I'll bet they'll be here before our next Sports class."

The teacher was studying her list of students. "You're first years, if I remember correctly ... Daniella and Tullia?"

"Danny."

"Oh right, Danny." she noted something on her list. "So Danny, have you ever played Volleyball before?"

"No Professor." Danny admitted. "But I've always been good at Sports and I love ball games."

"So why did you choose to join the Volleyball Club?"

"Well, to be honest, I really wanted to play Quidditch, but I can't try out until next year and we didn't make the Soccer team. So we decided to try another sport and a friend told us how great Volleyball is, so we thought we'd give it a try."

"We'll try really hard to catch up to the rest of the team." Tullia promised quickly. "And you can always put us in the reserve until we know the rules. We don't have to participate in the actual games at all, if ..."

The teacher laughed. "Calm down girl. This isn't a school team. If I didn't want to teach beginners, I'd have held tryouts. I'm sure most of the other first years and probably a lot of the higher years haven't played before either. Volleyball is rarely played in primary school, after all. I'm putting you in group one, which will most likely be entirely for beginners."

"And we'll be together, right?" Danny asked.

The teacher nodded. "No problem for now. I decide what team you play on once I'm able to judge your abilities, though."

That scared Tullia a little, but then she could always quit after this year, if she was separated from Danny and how bad could the consequences of skipping an optional class like a club be?

They watched some of the older students play for a while and tried to imitate the way they pushed the ball at each other, but there had to be some sort of trick to it that they couldn't figure out. Their ball seemed to fly everywhere, but where they were trying to make it go.

When an older boy finally snatched it away from them Tullia managed to stop Danny from demanding it back and directed her back towards the teacher instead. By now most of the groups were almost full and it was interesting to watch how the teacher dealt with the problems that brought.

"My you are tiny for a third year!" she exclaimed at a girl Tullia thought she'd seen at the Hufflepuff table before. "And you've never played before?"

"No, Professor." the girl confirmed looking quite embarrassed.

"Oh, I really should put you into the first group then, but it's full."

"Can't she be in the second?" somebody suggested. "You put a lot of beginners there already."

"But those were all a lot taller." the teacher explained staring at her list. "They'd probably always snatch the ball away before you could reach it. No, it has to be the first group. I'll have to move the tallest second year into the second group in exchange. If only I remembered which one that was ..."

"Damian." one of the students supplied.

"Damian?" the teacher called out over the noise in the room, which seemed quite a feat to Tullia. "Damian Handerson, you'll be in the second group instead of first!"

"But ... but Andy's my best friend!" came the apparently expected protest. "We want to be together."

The teacher cast a look over at the two boys. "He's the one who's already played Volleyball? Fine, you're both moved to the second group. That gives us another opening in the first. Are we still lacking any first or second years?"

And thus it continued until well after the start of dinner. For a while Tullia was worried that Danny might be put into the second group as well. After all she was very tall for her age, but the teacher never moved any of the first years around.

When they came out of the changing rooms, stomachs growling with hunger, they found Mr. Filch waiting outside the door. He held two little pieces of paper out to them.

"Food tickets." he explained at their puzzled looks. "The lunch hall is at the other end of the corridor. Just hand the ticket to the witch who hands out the food and wait for me after you're done."

"We're expected to eat here?" Danny asked surprised.

Filch just nodded and turned to the next girl in a Hogwarts robe who'd just walked through the door.

"I suppose it's simply too late to go back." Tullia decided. "Dinner would be over by the time the last group could be portkeyed back."

At first everybody was going the same way, but when they neared the stairs things got more complicated. Some students disappeared into a room to their right, while others went on straight ahead and the largest group seemed to disappear to the right exactly in front of the stairs.

The girls stopped and exchanged a worried look.

"So which way do we go?" Tullia asked.

Danny looked around, but all the other Hogwarts students in sight seemed to be just as undecided as they were. "I suppose the West Hogsmeade people would have to know. They must be going to dinner as well."

"But they're all headed in different directions." Tullia argued.

"The largest group's going that way." Danny pointed. "Lets see where that leads."

They didn't have to go very far to realise that that way were the school's main doors.

"Do you think the lunch room could be in a different building?" Danny asked Tullia.

"Mr. Filch said it's at the end of the corridor."

"Then it must have been that door to the right." Danny decided. "We have to go back."

By now there was a whole group of other Hogwarts students following them.

"Are you sure?" the tiny third year from Hufflepuff asked them. "It seemed like hardly anyone went there."

"Well, most of them live here in Hogsmeade." a boy said. "Maybe only those who don't eat here."

They returned to the door, but once they stepped through it was obvious that they were lost once again. This was a wardrobe with benches and hooks on the walls and a few cloaks and pairs of shoes. The only other door led back towards the entrance hall.

"So what do we do now?" Tullia asked. "This is the end of the corridor and all the other doors are locked."

"Maybe it isn't." somebody said. "Maybe we're supposed to go on past the stairs."

"I wish Billy were here." Tullia mumbled to herself as they crossed the now almost empty entrance hall. "He'd know where the lunch room is."

"Wait! I think I just smelled food!" someone exclaimed and indeed the smell of hot soup was drifting down the corridor.

Once one had crossed the entrance hall the lunch hall was hard to miss. It was huge with wide doors and it smelled of food.

There were only very few West Hogsmeade students in there at this time. The main crowd was made up of bewildered Hogwarts students. This place was nothing like the great hall!

"I think we're supposed to line up." Danny decided pointing at a line of students before the counter at the end of the hall. "That must be where the witch with the food is."

Indeed a witch wearing a shawl over her hair appeared behind the counter only moments later and pushed a plate over it. The student at the front of the line accepted the plate and put it on an orange tray that he was carrying.

"Where do we get those trays?" Tullia asked.

They looked around feeling rather lost once again until Danny spotted a stack of trays at the side of the counter.

"Hey, there are knives and forks right here, too!" she exclaimed drawing the whole group to that spot.

"But where are the spoons?" asked the boy from before. "I know I smelled soup."

"Here." a taller boy pointed. "And napkins, too."

As the line moved on they even came past rows of glasses and then little bowls of salad.

"Look! " the tiny third year pointed at a student who'd just passed the food witch. "There's pudding and bread over there."

"Haven't you guys ever eaten at a self service restaurant before?" an older girl in green robes asked rolling her eyes.

"Well, no." Tullia had to admit. "We never went out to eat much. Mum always cooks at home."

"What, you man you don't have a house elf?" a boy sneered at her.

"House elf?" Tullia repeated confused. "Do I look like some posh manor girl who'd own a house elf?"

"Colleen probably has one." Danny reminded her. "And Aterus mentioned having one, too."

"Yeah well, but they're rich." Tullia shrugged. "Do I look rich to you?"

"Um ... yes?" the boy returned no longer sneering.

"What about me looks rich?" Tullia looked down at herself as much as she could while holding her tray straight.

"Um ... your robes." Um really seemed to be that boy's favourite word.

"But that's my school uniform." Tullia protested.

"Exactly." the boy nodded. "If you're not rich, how come you're going to Hogwarts?" he demanded and Tullia took an involuntary step back at his tone.

Luckily Danny had caught on by then. "Both her parents work hard for that!" she snapped at the boy. "As do mine and those of most of our friends. Sorry if yours didn't deem you important enough to do the same."

"My Mum would do anything for me! It's not her fault Dad ran away!" the boy yelled at her.

"So you're blaming us for that or something?" Danny yelled back. "We never even met the guy."

He took a step forward, but the girl from before put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "She's right, Ary. They didn't do anything. Leave the children alone. And you," she pointed her other hand at Tullia. "Are holding up the line."

Indeed Tullia had reached the end of the line without even noticing and the food witch was looking down at her expectantly.

"Oh, sorry." Tullia stuttered and held up her bit of paper.

The food witch snatched it out of her hand and shoved two plates across the counter. One contained soup, the other a small piece of meat, vegetables and two large potatoes. Tullia only hoped that the meat wasn't cow again.

 

Dinner without Danny and Tullia was quite an improvement, Colleen thought, though she didn't really mind Tullia all that much. Yes, the girl was part fish, but so far that remained the only wrong she'd done. It was Danny that really bothered her. Danny and Gangolf.

Colleen glared at the boy who had pushed his chair as far away from the table as possible while still being able to reach his salad. Unfortunately that meant that he was blocking the path for any student who might want to walk down between the house tables.

"Just what is wrong with you this time?" she demanded. She wasn't overly fond of eggs with spinach herself, but with the salad and lots of pumpkin juice it was edible enough.

"Don't you realise what stains spinach leaves on your robes?" Gangolf answered as if it were obvious. "I don't want to ruin my uniform."

"Gangolf, the uniform's black." Dinah blinked at him.

"So?"

"Black doesn't show spinach stains." Dinah explained.

"And, even if it did, that's what house elves are for." Colleen added. "They have special spells to deal with persistent stains."

"Really?" Anny asked wide eyed. "Oh, house elves are so cool."

"House elves?" Colleen repeated incredulously. "What could be cool about those ugly things?"

"Anny means how useful they are." Billy translated. "Muggles don't have them, remember. They can't do anything about spinach stains."

"Are you Muggle born, Gangolf?" Aterus asked.

"Of course not!" yelped Gangolf. "My mother is one of the greatest witches in the world and my father ... well my father is even greater. He ..."

"An even greater witch?" Billy smirked. "I could almost believe that."

Teasing was quite enjoyable when you weren't the one being teased, Colleen found, but unfortunately she had a class to get to right after dinner and she didn't want to miss her very first French lesson.

What was even more unfortunate was the fact that French was held at West Hogsmeade and she didn't know anybody else who was taking it.

At least she remembered the way to the caretaker's office quite well. Colleen was used to living in a big manor with lots of rooms so she didn't get lost very often and the office was in the dungeons after all, really close to the Slytherin common room by the standards she was used to.

There were five students already in the room when Colleen arrived, two of which she recognised as Ravenclaws in her year, but couldn't name. Of the other three two were strangers and the third the Weasley girl. At first Colleen frowned, but then she reminded herself that the girl was a Hufflepuff, not a Gryffindor.

Her classmates all liked the Hufflepuffs, so it was probably best to be friendly. Considering that the other four all formed pairs the Hufflepuff was probably her best chance at making a friend in this class as well. The Weasleys were an old pureblood family and therefore acceptable. What was her name again? Oh right!

"Hi Cam." Colleen gave her what she hoped to be an inviting smile. She had to be feeling a little left out in this group, too, didn't she?

"Hi ... um ... Nocturne." Cam returned blushing.

"Colleen." Colleen corrected.

"Oh sorry."

"No problem. I can't remember the names of those two Ravenclaws either." Colleen whispered so only Cam could hear her. "Not even the last names."

"Cait and Nonius." Cam whispered back.

There was a sudden bang and Filch appeared with a group of students.

"Okay, okay, Volleyballers please clear out. Where are the French students?" Filch shooed the new arrivals out.

"Here!" Cam called raising her hand and waving.

Colleen decided to imitate that.

"One, two, three ... six." Filch counted. "That should be all of you. Now next week you will meet me here before dinner, understand?"

They nodded.

"I will give each of you a food ticket and you will eat at West Hogsmeade, then go to class and Mr. Smith will send you back afterwards." Filch ordered.

"Why do we have to eat there?" Nonius asked.

"Because that way we avoid the problem we have right now." Filch grumbled. "I have two more loads of Volleyballers to bring back here and you to take to your class and didn't get any dinner. Next week I'm going over with you, will eat there, then take the volleyballers back. Come on now, take the portkey."

Mr. Smith's office was in chaos. The caretaker had to physically push back the students to make room for them to arrive.

"Alright, French students, stay with Mr. Smith, Volleyballers take a hold of the portkey. No more than twelve at a time!" Filch started shouting right away.

For a moment Colleen thought she caught sight of Danny's red hair in the group that pushed past her towards the portkey, but there were too many taller students between them to be sure and she didn't want to see Danny anyway. The less conspicuous Tullia was nowhere in sight.

"Alright, you stay here and wait quietly until Mr. Filch comes back for you." Mr Smith told the small group of Volleyball players left in the office. "French students, follow me."

This time Colleen wasn't surprised at the way this school looked anymore. After all she had already seen it when they'd had Sports the day before. What difference did it make that this time they went up the stairs and into another corridor?

"Colleen, look!" Cam pointed at the first door Mr Smith walked past on the corridor.

Colleen could only stop and stare.

"Beautiful!" one of the two older students gasped.

"It's a tradition." Mr. Smith explained. "When the school was first started the rooms only had little numbers above each door and the students, especially the first years, kept getting lost. So one day one of the teachers decided to help their orientation by putting a large inscription on his door. The method was so successful that the others soon started to imitate it. In order to make each door really memorable they all got different decorations and when the teachers realised how well an advanced demonstration of their art motivates students it became the custom for them to link the form of the decoration to their subject."

"This, for example." he said stopping in front of one of the doors. "Is a picture of the French flag and the Eiffel tower in Paris. "And when you go on inside you will find even more pretty pictures of France there."

There was no chance to look at those pictures, though. They were already late for their class and the moment they opened the door the teacher's attention was on them.

"Ah, bonjour les élèves!" she exclaimed waiving them inside. "Entrez, entrez." "Um ... bonjour." Colleen stuttered nervously. It was the only word she thought she understood.

Did the teacher speak only French? If so what was she going to do? She'd expected to be taught from the very beginning.

The teacher smiled. "Come on in and sit down, students. Do any of you already know a little French?"

Colleen quickly sat down on the chair next to the one Cam picked and glanced through the room. Including herself there were fifteen students in here, but only six had their hands raised, all of them wearing the green robes of West Hogsmeade and sitting together in the window row.

"Only the students I already taught last year?" the teacher asked sounding a little disappointed. "What about you?" she turned to Colleen. "You seemed to understand me."

Colleen shook her head. "My grandmother knows French. I think she once mentioned that bonjour means hello."

"Actually it means 'good day'." the teacher smiled. "The French use it the way we use good morning and good afternoon. Hello would be allo, but it isn't used as much as our hello. Anybody else know a French word?"

There were a few raised hands, but it soon turned out that except for the six advanced students they didn't know much.

The two strangers from Hogwarts turned out to be second year Ravenclaws and the advanced students were second and third years from West Hogsmeade. Then there were three West Hogsmeade first years who knew even less French than Colleen.

"Alors, le livre." the teacher announced finally and pointed at a white panel on the wall on which the title and author of a book had been written in black letters. "The book. Please copy it down. We will need it by next week. You can get it at the book shop in the market place, or order it at any other book shop."

"We're not allowed to visit Hogsmeade until third year, Professor." one of the second years informed her. "And then only on three weekends in the year. I don't think this week is one of those."

For a moment the teacher seemed dumbfounded, but she recovered quickly. "Well, then you'd best ask your parents to owl it to you. Unless any of you live unusually far away it should be possible for them to be here in time."

Oh no! "Er ... Professor?" Colleen timidly raised her hand. "I ... um ... My parents ... They are very busy people, you know, and they don't always find time to read and answer my owls right away. I ... There's another item I owled home for at the beginning of last week, but they haven't found time to send it, yet. I'm not sure how long it might take them to send the book."

"I see." the teacher looked at her oddly. Colleen wondered what she was thinking. "I suppose you and your friend can share a book for a while, if yours doesn't arrive in time. Now, back to our first lesson. We are going to learn how to introduce ourselves in French."

 

A/N: Will Tullia and Danny like playing volleyball? Is Colleen making friends with Cam, and if so, what will her family say? And is she ever going to get her hair pins, Sports clothes and French book?

 

In the next chapter: Aterus makes a new friend, Billy searches for Draco and snakes are wise, not evil.


	14. Chess, Owls and Chemistry

Chapter 14: Chess, Owls and Chemistry

 

The first meeting of the Chess club was held in the great hall and one would have thought that there was enough room there for the forty members it was supposed to have, but somehow it turned into complete chaos long before the West Hogsmeade students began to arrive.

Aterus who was feeling rather shy kept to the side and tried to be inconspicuous. The only familiar faces he'd seen in the crowd so far were those of Felix Towerhill and Randolph Montrey of Ravenclaw and he'd lost sight of them only moments later.

A teacher he'd never seen before was trying to calm down the noisiest students and direct them towards chairs at the Ravenclaw table. According to a conversation of some older students that Aterus overheard that was Professor Vector who as Billy had mentioned taught Arithmancy, a subject the Professors Snape highly approved of.

"It's very important what electives one chooses." Billy had said. "Dad said Arithmancy will come in useful whatever you do and Draco says to pick Runes, if I want to go on into a magical career and definitely Math, if I plan on going to Muggle university. Divination is complete rubbish and Care for Magical Creatures fun, but a waste of time and it can also get dangerous."

Aterus didn't quite understand why he had to worry about those things now. After all they wouldn't have to choose any electives until third year.

Anyhow, to teach Arithmancy Professor Vector probably had to be very intelligent. That deserved some respect in Aterus' opinion.

"Seventh years, to me, please!" Professor Vector was shouting and lining the students that responded to her call up at the end of the Ravenclaw table. "Do we have any more seventh years? No? Then the sixth years to me, please!"

The sixth years were lined up right next to the seventh years and then followed the fifth years, fourth years, third ...

Aterus finally found himself at the bottom end of the line facing a dark skinned girl in a green robe, apparently a West Hogsmeade first year and waiting for Professor Vector to supply them with a chess board.

"Oh dear, oh dear, we didn't think that through at all." the teacher sighed. "Don't worry, children. Next week we'll have only ten pairs in this class and won't have this problem."

"You mean you're kicking all the losers out of the club?" the girl asked horrified.

"What? Oh no, deary." Professor Vector assured her. "Of course not. I'm just going to split you into a junior and a senior club. The senior club will meet on Mondays starting next week, but there simply wasn't any time yesterday and I wasn't sure which fourth years to put into which club so I decided to combine the two today. I just didn't think ... Oh, thank you, Winky!"

A tiny house elf had suddenly materialised right on the table carrying a stack of three chess sets. She nodded at the teacher in acknowledgement, placed one between Aterus and the West Hogsmeade girl and popped over to the next chessboard less pair.

Professor Vector disappeared as well, probably to watch the fourth years' games in order to decide which of them were the most advanced. At least Aterus assumed that the senior club would have the more advanced players.

"So, black or white?" he asked his opponent.

"Why, I'm black of course." she pointed at herself with both hands and it took Aterus a moment to figure out that she was referring to her skin colour.

"That doesn't mean you have to play black, though, does it?" he asked a little unsure.

"That's okay. I like black." she returned happily then held out her hand to him. "Jessica Johnson, squib."

"Oh," Aterus quickly shook the offered hand. "Aterus Sorrel, Slytherin." He hoped that was the right reaction. After all she probably already knew that he was a wizard, since Hogwarts didn't teach squibs.

"My mother was in Ravenclaw." Jessica continued while they set up their pawns. "Dad's a Muggle."

"My mother was a Hufflepuff, I think. And my father a Slytherin."

"Are the Sorrels a Slytherin family then?" Jessica asked. "The Johnsons are mostly Ravenclaws, but I have a cousin who was in Gryffindor."

"Mostly Slytherins." Aterus confirmed while making his first move. "We've had several Ravenclaws as well, though, and some Hufflepuffs. I don't think I have any Gryffndor ancestors."

"The traditionally Slytherin families rarely do." Jessica said and Aterus wondered why she seemed to know so much about Hogwarts' houses, if she was a squib.

"Did you want to go to Hogwarts very much?" he asked after they'd made a few moves in silence.

"Well, I expected to, but then I didn't like the idea of going to boarding school all that much." Jessica answered lightly. "And my Dad's a Muggle after all, so I didn't feel all that bad when I found out I'm a squib."

"How did you?" Aterus asked. "I mean, how can one know for sure that one doesn't have magic? I know for sure that I am a wizard since I performed accidental magic, but not every child does. So you can't just decide that everyone who never did is a squib, can you?"

"Well, all children with a magical parent are registered at the ministry of magic, of course, and at Hogwarts they record all magical newborns." Jessica explained while taking out one of his pawns. "Every year in July somebody at Hogwarts makes a copy of the list of children who will be eleven at the first of September and sends it to the ministry. The ministry then compares the lists and the parents of all registered children that aren't on the Hogwarts list are notified that their child is a squib and invited to contact West Hogsmeade."

Aterus moved his rook. "That seems like an awful lot of trouble to copy the whole list just for the ones who aren't on. Check."

Jessica took the rook with her tower. "It's not just for that. The Hogwarts list also contains all the Muggle borns which the ministry doesn't know about until then. Their parents have to be contacted as well so they'll be aware of the option to send their child to a magic school. And I think they also contact the magical families whose children aren't down for Hogwarts and remind them it's time to send them to school."

"How can someone not be down for Hogwarts?" Aterus asked. "I'm pretty sure my parents never applied."

"I think if the parents went to Hogwarts themselves their children are on the list automatically." Jessica said. "The others have to apply, but some spots are reserved for Muggle borns. You know, because they can't apply before they are contacted by the ministry and if they gave away all the places ahead of time, they'd never get the chance. Check mate."

Aterus blinked at the board in surprise. He hadn't even noticed how well Jessica had cornered him. "Hey, you're good."

"You got too distracted with our conversation. Play again?" she suggested.

"Sure, and this time I'm going to pay better attention."

"Do you want to be black this time?"

"I'd love to."

 

Wednesday morning at breakfast several owls swooped down at the group hooting complaints about the lack of room to land. Aterus was the first to expertly catch his family owl.

Once seated on the boy's shoulder the owl calmed down and accepted a slice of bacon in return for the package he'd been carrying.

"It's my Sports clothes." he informed Billy after glancing at the note that came with it. "Mother thinks they are really weird, though. I don't think she's ever had to buy Muggle clothes before."

"So what did she buy you?" Tullia asked him. "I got green shorts with silver stripes on the sides, look!"

Aterus pushed his plate aside and opened the package. "Jeans. And a green t-shirt with a cobra's head."

"Cool." commented Billy.

"Your parents were very thoughtful." Colleen said. "They even remembered to pick Slytherin colours."

Pank nodded. "So did mine. Green shorts and a green t-shirt, just like Anny's."

"It's almost like having a Soccer uniform." Anny looked up from her letter.

"But the Soccer team is made up of all houses." Tullia reminded them. "They can't just all wear green."

"Yes, I suppose we will need a black uniform." Pank agreed. "Too bad we didn't think of that sooner."

"It doesn't seem like we're getting a uniform for the team at all." Billy remarked. "At least nobody mentioned it, yet."

"Maybe the school will supply them?" Anny suggested.

Danny snorted at that. "They didn't supply our robes, books or even the Sports clothes. Why would they make an exception for the Soccer dresses?"

"Actually, the headmaster is considering to determine an official school Sports uniform for next year." Professor Snape appeared behind her unexpectedly. "I'm afraid nobody thought of the need for Sports clothes in advance this year."

"You don't say?" Danny rolled her eyes. "We never would have noticed."

"I saw most of you received mail today." Snape continued ignoring the sarcasm. "Are your problems solved, then?"

"The worst of it, I think." Pank answered. "We should have enough spares to lend to the ones who are still without now."

Snape glanced around at the group. "Who didn't get an owl today?"

"Me." smirked Billy.

"And me." said Rupert and Colleen.

"And Gangolf's still missing." Pank added. "We don't know whether he got any mail, yet."

"I'm certainly not going to owl you and you already have your Sports clothes." Snape told Billy, then became more serious. "Your family still hasn't owled back, Miss Nocturne?"

"No, Professor, not yet." Colleen admitted. "They might have some problems purchasing the Muggle clothing, though. They do not approve of witches wearing trousers, so it might take a while for them to pick a pair they find acceptable. The Sports teacher seemed okay with the clothes I wore on Monday, though and Anny helped me make a new hair band that will do until my hairpins arrive."

"The pony tail suits you much better anyway." Tullia said.

The others stared at her in surprise.

"Well, it makes you look less ... forbidding." Tullia tried to explain.

"But it still belongs to Anny." Colleen declared. "And my parents probably wouldn't like it."

"I'm sure there's something nice we could do with the pins as well." Anny decided. "We'll just have to try out a few different styles and see what looks best. That would be fun, too, don't you think Dinah?"

"Huh?" Dinah's head sprang up at the mention of her name. "What was that?"

"I said it would be fun to try some different hairstyles for Colleen." Anny shook her head at her. "Are you trying to learn that letter by heart?"

"What do you mean? I haven't even finished reading it. I'm only half way through the third page." Dinah protested.

"Third page?" Danny repeated incredulously. "Just what do your parents write about that could fill three pages?"

"Five and a half." Dinah corrected. "Oh, this and that really. My brother's new friend, the neighbours' daughter's birthday party, my cousin's baby is teething, my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary, another cousin wants to join the boy scouts, but his parents aren't sure whether he's old enough not to mention magic to the Muggles ..."

"Why ever would you care about any of that?" Danny interrupted Dinah's report.

"It's called showing an interest in other people, so they'll know you care about them." Dinah stated. "Didn't your Mum teach you that?"

Snape decided to ignore that conversation and turned to Rupert. "Your parents haven't written you yet either?"

"Oh yes, I got their answer to my first letter on Saturday." Rupert answered. "Three days are a little short for an owl to make it to Ireland and back with a heavy parcel, though. He's probably somewhere over the sea right now."

"Lets hope for the poor bird's sake that he's on a ship and not flying over empty water, then." Snape decided. "What about Gangolf?"

"Who knows?" Pank shrugged. "His letter is probably here already, but unless the school owls make special deliveries in the bathroom it will have to wait until he comes up for breakfast."

However this turned out to be one of the days on which Gangolf didn't have breakfast at all and a very sleepy owl finally waylaid him on the way to the glass houses for Herbology. Thanks to this excellent timing the Hufflepuffs as well as the Gryffindors were treated to the sight of Gangolf unpacking a pair of pink tights with obvious delight.

"You get sister's letter?" Jorge asked Gangolf wide eyed.

"No, it's from my Mum." Gangolf replied misunderstanding the question.

"Mum give you sister's ... robe?"

"Er ... I don't think I understand that one, Jorge." Gangolf blinked at the Spanish boy.

"No Jorge, Gangolf likes pink tights." Aterus tried to explain. "They are for the Ballet Club."

"Gangolf likes witch?" Jorge attempted to give some meaning to the unfamiliar words. "Robe is for witch?"

"Not robe, tights." Aterus pointed at the piece of clothing in question.

"Tights." Jorge nodded. "Tights is for witch?"

"No, the tights are for Ballet." Jonathan corrected.

"Ballet not witch?"

"Ballet is a class. A club." Jonathan explained attempting to mimic ballet dancing. "Oh, Gangolf can show you once he's learned. I can't dance."

"Jon no good Ballet?"

"No, and I don't want to learn either."

 

Billy arrived at Filch's office over half an hour before dinner. The caretaker looked up from the files he was arranging in surprise.

"I'm here for Chemistry class." Billy announced.

"That doesn't start until six." Filch grumbled. "Come back then."

"But I'm supposed to eat dinner there first, am I not?" Billy argued.

"Yes, but the rest of your class hasn't been told, yet, and it's too early for dinner as well. I only just took all the Basketballers over and there were two Sports classes before that. I need a break from all the portkeying."

"The Hufflepuff first years." Billy stated. "They had Sports today."

"That was the second group." Filch agreed. "First were the Gryffindors."

Billy shrugged. "I don't like Gryffindors."

Filch regarded the Slytherin badge on his uniform. "But you do like Hufflepuffs?"

Billy nodded. "At least those in my year. The Ravenclaws are okay, too." he added to show that he wasn't prejudiced.

"So what's wrong with the Gryffindors?" Filch asked picking up his cat and scratching him behind his ears.

"They're mean." Billy frowned. "They call me a teacher's pet and steal our things. One of them broke my friend's quill yesterday. Some older ones beat up Gangolf. And that ugly girl, Laura, called Colleen a Death Eater."

"And you didn't do anything to them at all, I suppose?" Filch mocked.

"Well, Danny punched Warthay, but that was after she said we were all dark wizards anyway." Billy admitted. "It was definitely them who started it."

"So they just talk and you react by hitting them?" Filch shook his head. "I should give you a detention for that."

"We only defend ourselves." Billy protested.

"Against what? Words are not an attack." the caretaker declared.

"So if someone called you mudblood, you wouldn't retaliate?" Billy challenged.

"If someone called me mudblood, I'd probably send them to Madame Pomfrey to have their head examined. Who ever heard of a Muggle born Squib?"

"It was just a general example." Billy frowned. "What if someone goes around telling everybody that you are a thief then?"

"Then I could sue them."

"Well, because you're an adult. Children can't sue, though."

"Because it doesn't do any harm what others say about a child. It's just not big enough." Filch explained.

"Do you know how many people joined the Death Eaters, because the whole school called them Death Eaters as children?"

Filch blinked. "No."

"Well, I know of two." Billy said. "But then, what do I know of Death Eaters. I can't even remember the war."

"Alright, alright." Filch grumbled. "I'll portkey you over, but if Mr Smith isn't in his office, you're on your own."

"No problem." Billy smiled. "I can find my way."

 

To Billy's disappointment Draco wasn't in his office, though. He tried a few classroom doors, but they were all locked. Laving a fully equipped Potions classroom open and unsupervised was a rather dangerous thing and no teacher with half a brain would do it.

Billy sighed and trudged back to the stairs. Maybe Draco was in the library?

He slid one floor down on the banister. Those huge staircases they had in schools were excellent for sliding, but usually too crowded so it was quite an opportunity to find one completely empty.

The corridors were quiet and deserted. Was anybody even still here?

But Mr. Filch had said that there was a Basketball class right now. Billy was simply on the wrong floor to hear all their noise.

The library was a familiar place. When Billy had visited Draco at work, they'd almost always come here. Billy walked in and looked around.

Five green robed students looked back at him in surprise.

Well, there were students in the house, but still no Draco. The librarian hadn't seen him since lunch break either, but suggested to try the teachers' lounge. Unfortunately that was a place Billy couldn't remember ever visiting and by the time he found it Draco had just left to have dinner.

At least Billy knew exactly where the lunch room was and Filch had given him a food ticket as well.

"Draco!" Billy flung himself at his brother the moment he caught sight of him at a table in the back.

Draco laughed and hugged him back. "You're early."

"I just had to see you." Billy stated. "There's so much I have to tell you."

"Alright." Draco dug a few coins out of his pocket. "But get yourself some food first. We can talk while we eat."

For a moment Billy was tempted, but Draco was friends with Mr Smith, who was best friends with Mr Filch, and would probably find out sooner or later.

"Not necessary. I've already got a food ticket." he told his brother.

There was no line at the moment and it only took him a minute to get his food and return to Draco. Apparently the Basketball Club was still in class and very few West Hogsmeade students ate dinner at the school. The Hogwarts Chemistry students would probably eat at Hogwarts today and the ones working in the library hadn't come down yet either.

Besides Draco and Billy there were only two more customers right now and they were probably part of the Chemistry class.

It was hard to eat when you had so much to say, though, and Billy's food turned cold while he told Draco about all the people he'd met and adventures he'd had.

"Gangolf is completely weird." he mentioned after finally eating a spoonful of soup. "He even signed up for Ballet."

"So?" Draco asked. "Why can't a boy want to learn how to dance? The class does have two or three boys every year, you know. There's nothing wrong with that."

"He also got pink Sports clothes for the class."

Draco laughed. "Oh, the poor boy!"

"No Draco, he likes them. I think he asked his Mum to get pink ones." Billy explained. "It doesn't matter much anyway, because he's in the girls' Sports class too."

"Poor boy." Draco repeated. "So, I take it, there are more girls than boys in the mixed Sports class?"

"It's not mixed." Billy stated taking another spoonful of soup. "It's a girls' class with one Gangolf and I'm not sure he should really be considered a boy. He likes mirrors, cosmetics and all sorts of girlie things."

"Maybe he's gay." Draco decided. "Some gays are very feminine."

Billy blinked. "He's eleven. He's not old enough to have that kind of feelings, yet."

"That doesn't mean he can't be gay." Draco declared. "It only means that we'll have to wait a few years to find out for sure."

"Well, I don't like him either way, but Dad says I have to be nice to him." Billy complained just as the door opened and the first larger group of students came in. "Hey look, it's Domally and Donelly."

"Domally and Donelly?"

"Arnika Domally and Salvatore Donelly." Billy explained. "They're Ravenclaws. We have Potions with them. Urgh, and the ones with them are Quentin and Sanger from Gryffindor. Why are they hanging out with those jerks?"

"Maybe they're different with them." Draco shrugged it off. "A lot of Gryffindors are perfectly nice to Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs."

"Yes, but ... I thought Domally and Donelly were okay. They were nice enough when we talked to them until now." Billy shook his head sadly. "All of the Ravenclaws seemed alright."

"Just because they don't hate Gryffindors doesn't mean they have to hate Slytherins." Draco sighed. "Look, it's like gangs. Imagine Hogwarts as a park that has four gangs. Slytherin is one gang and at war with Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw is a third gang whose territory hasn't been compromised. They don't really care about the war because they aren't involved, but they'd like to remain in good standing with whatever side wins, so they won't be the next to be attacked. Therefore they don't want to provoke either gang."

Billy frowned at the group which was now sitting at one of the tables near the door. "I don't like it anyway."

"You don't have to." Draco agreed. "Just don't start a war with Ravenclaw over it, or you'll put Slytherin at a disadvantage. We had a three front war back when I was in school. Trust me, you don't want that."

Billy nodded and decided to change the topic. "Are there any other first years in the class?"

"No, all third years and above." Draco reported. "Twenty students in today's class and ten in the seniors. Most of them I already know. Only the two from Hogwarts are complete strangers."

"Only two from Hogwarts?" Billy asked surprised.

"They haven't had Math there until this year." Draco reminded him. "The two we got are both Muggle born, but that's all I know about them. They must have learned a little Math in Muggle school, so I'm hoping they'll be able to keep up."

"Second years?"

"Fifth." Draco returned with a shrug. "Which means they've had five years to forget what they've learned, but lets hope for the best."

"Will there be any second years in the class at all?" Billy frowned. This could get lonely.

"Four. The mass is made up of third years, though." Draco explained. "Most of our first years don't care about learning Muggle subjects when they arrive, but once they start learning Potions, some develop an interest in Alchemy and take Math in their second year, so I always get more third years than second in Chemistry."

"So most move on to Alchemy after a year?" Billy asked. That was his plan as well.

Draco nodded. "Most of the Chemistry seniors take both subjects." He grinned. "They're my elite, you know, the ones most likely to stick with Alchemy after they finish school."

"Tullia signed up for Math." Billy remembered. "She seems to be pretty good at Potions, too."

"The Mermaid?" Draco asked surprised.

"Part Mermaid. She's more witch, really. You can't even see that she has gills."

"I just hope she realises that you can't brew underwater."

"Draco." Billy rolled his eyes at him.

Draco laughed. "Come on, then. Want to help me set up for class?"

 

His classmates in Chemistry did look at Billy rather strangely at first. Due to the usually higher age of the beginners the senior Chemistry Club was normally reserved for sixth and seventh years, though fifth years that took senior Alchemy were allowed in as well. Normal fifth year Chemistry students were firmly placed in the junior club, though making even the second years look very small. Billy looked absolutely tiny next to them.

Once they heard his name and saw his performance in class things improved, though. The lesson was almost boring to him at first. Draco had separated them into two groups, one of students that were new to the class and a smaller one of returning students whom he set a simple practical task while working on the basics with the newcomers.

It was soon obvious that the two Hogwarts fifth years were not up to the standards of the new West Hogsmeade students who'd all spent at least a year in the Math Club, which was mostly designed to specifically prepare the students for Chemistry and Physics, rather than give them a general knowledge of Math.

Draco was used to getting his students with that preparation and found it rather hard to deal with the two. After a few minutes he recommended that they should just watch for today and brush up their Math skills for homework and returned to working with the rest of the group.

Still Billy was bored. He knew all of that and often couldn't even remember from where. Why did one always pour the water in first when mixing it with acid? Gee, didn't every baby know that?

The puzzled faces of his classmates indicated otherwise.

"So you don't get hurt, if you pour it in too fast." he almost groaned.

"And why would you get hurt, if you pour something in too fast?" Draco asked mock innocently.

"Because if you pour one liquid into another too fast, the one already in the glass will splash out and could hit you, or your equipment." Billy corrected himself. "If it's water you only get wet. Acid eats through your skin."

Draco nodded and turned to the next student. "Do you know the chemical formula for water?"

Boring, boring, boring.

"Can't you ask something more interesting?" Billy moaned.

"Like what for example?"

"Like ... Well, at the very least what elements salt is made from or the difference between organic and anorganic Chemistry."

"Chemistry can have organs?" a second year gasped.

"No, organic Chemistry is when it has carbohydrates!" Billy yelped. "Or at least Carbon atoms."

"Car-what?"

"Well, I actually meant to explain elements and molecules before having to explain chemical terminology." Draco sighed. "It usually helps. Organic chemistry on the whole is not the best starting point for beginners."

Billy cast a longing glance towards where he knew Draco kept the parts for model molecules. Maybe Draco would at least let him build a few?

"Alright, you can do the practical assignment." Draco finally agreed. "But don't blow anything up."

Billy looked almost insulted. "Of course not."

"Okay, back to the chemical name of water." Draco announced to the rest of the group. "Any ideas?"

 

When Anny arrived in Filch's office she almost reconsidered her wish to join the Acting club. The place was full of Gryffindors! Luckily most of them were higher years who didn't know her and probably considered first years beneath their notice anyway and one group turned out to be there for detention rather than transportation to West Hogsmeade.

Wendy Carmey and Alberta Halley sneered at her when Filch called out her name, but Anny was determined to ignore them. With so many students in the club it couldn't get that bad, could it?

Filch portkeyed them over to West Hogsmeade, where Billy and two other students were already waiting.

"How was Chemistry?" Anny called out to Billy, but Filch already activated the return portkey and she couldn't be sure Billy had even still heard her.

"Acting class is in the Arithmancy classroom, Alchemy in Chemistry A." Mr Smith announced. "Are any of you taking Alchemy?"

For a moment Anny's hopes rose, but nobody answered. Of course not, she realised. They were required to take a year of Chemistry first and that hadn't been offered at Hogwarts until now, so how could any Hogwarts students be taking Alchemy?

The Arithmancy classroom turned out to be already overflowing with West Hogsmeade students and Anny almost didn't see the teacher at all at first.

"Silence!" a voice finally roared over the crowd. "We are going to have two Acting classes this year, so today we'll just determine who will be in what group. Group number one will keep meeting on Wednesday, while group number two will meet on Thursdays at the same time. To make the choice a little easier for you group one will perform mostly funny little plays for children, while group two will focus on more serious pieces for adults. To start us off I have picked a nice little fairy tale called The Little Unicorn's Journey for group one and the tragic love story Romeo and Juliet for group two."

The noise immediately rose up again. It seemed everybody else had come with their best friend and had to discuss their choice with them.

"Silence!" the teacher yelled once again not seeming too bothered or srprsed. "There will be twenty students in each group. When I read out your name, please tell me what group you want to be in. Applegate, Becky?"

Once again some students started whispering, discussing the choices. Anny hardly listened to them, though. She already knew her choice. She might never have heard of The Little Unicorn's Yourney before, but unicorns had always fascinated her, while Romeo and Juliet, though famous, seemed rather dull. She very much doubted a tiny first year like her had any chance at being chosen to play Juliet anyway, but the unicorn was supposed to be little, right?

Unfortunately the two Gryffindors seemed to have had the same idea, but Anny wouldn't let them make her decision for her. If she could take Gryffindors in her Transfigurations class, then she could live with them in her Acting class as well.

Apparently there were more people interested in playing Romeo and Juliet, so everyone who picked group one got in easily. There were some negotiations with wannabe Romeos and Juliets until they finally had twenty students in each group, though.

Then the teacher handed out little sheets of paper, much to the astonishment of some of the Hogwarts students, with texts they were to learn by heart until the next week.

"Those are excerpts from the play you are going to participate in, but most likely will not be part of the role you will play. It's just a first assignment so I can see you perform and decide what role would actually suit you."

Anny studied her text closely. Apparently she was to play an old snake who gave the little unicorn some good advice. She'd have to consult Salazar about how to hiss properly. Maybe if she did very well, the teacher would let her keep the role after all. That was almost as good as playing the little unicorn.

"Hah, I am the butterfly." Wendy Carmey announced. "I'm the most beautiful."

"But I'm the bear." Alberta Halley returned. "I'm the strongest and bravest. I can crush any enemy with a single swipe of my paw."

"That's not brave." slipped out of Anny's mouth before she could stop herself. "That's just bullying. Brave is when you're really in danger of losing, but dare fight anyway."

"Oh yeah?" sneered Alberta.

"So what are you then, Death Eater?" added Wendy.

"I'm the snake." Anny stated.

"Oh, of course." Alberta laughed. "How could we forget. Of course the Death Eater would be the evil one."

"Snakes aren't evil!" Anny corrected. "They're beautiful and fascinating and really nice."

"Evil, evil, evil." cheered the two Gryffindors. "Snakey is evil."

"And slimy." crowed Wendy. "Eeewww, snake!"

"They're not!" Anny shouted. "Their skin's all dry and rough and nice to touch!"

"Slimy, evil monster!"

"The snake isn't evil!" Anny was fighting down tears.

"Yes, it is. All snakes are evil." Wendy declared. "Right?" she asked an older Gryffindor.

"Of course." the girl answered without even a pause. "Snakes are the most evil creatures there are. They are the tool of the devil, who tempted Eve and caused the original sin. They are the origin of all evil in the world."

"You're lying!" Anny burst out tears running down her face.

The Gryffindors laughed at her hopeless attempt at defence, but her loud, shaky protest had attracted the attention of the teacher. She strode over, took one look at the three laughing gils and grew very stern.

"What is going on here?" she demanded.

Anny wanted to answer, but only a sob came out when she opened her mouth, so she just helplessly pointed out her piece of paper and the Slytherin crest on her robe.

"The little Death Eater won't believe that snakes are evil and tools of the devil." the older Gryffindor explained.

"The snake is an ancient symbol of wisdom and healing." the teacher declared calmly. "And that is how she's used in our play. There's no reason to tease anyone over the role they play and this isn't even a permanent role."

"She's a snake, though." Wendy Carmey stated. "All Slytherins are."

The teacher obviously drew a blank. She looked from Wendy to Anny and back again. Anny finally pointed out the crest again.

"House animal." she got out between more sobs.

"I see." the teacher put a hand on her shoulder. "Would you rather have a different role?"

Anny shook her head wildly. No, she still loved being the snake.

The three Gryffindors started to retreat.

"Stop!" the teacher ordered. "I think you three owe your friend an apology."

"We don't make friends with stinking Death Eaters." Laura Warthay declared.

"Death Eaters? There haven't been any Death Eaters for years." the teacher stated. "It was the name of an organisation headed by the dark wizard Voldemort, who was killed when you were about five or six years old. The Death Eaters were arrested and taken to Azkaban. They are gone. So why would you call this little girl a Death Eater?"

"All Slytherins are dark wizards." Wendy Carmey said. "If she isn't, her parents sure are."

Anny had to laugh through her tears. She tried to imagine her father fixing a broken water line with a reparo spell and an evil sneer on his face. Of course she knew that reparo was a light spell, but she couldn't think of any other spells she knew that her father might find use for, nor did she know any dark spells.

"Is one of your parents in Askaban?" the teacher asked her gently.

Anny shook her head and laughed even more. She finally managed to stop crying, but now she couldn't speak from laughing.

The sixth year Slytherin prefect finally came to her aide. "She's Muggle born, Professor. I don't think there ever were any Muggle Death Eaters."

That caused some laughs among the watching students and gave Anny a chance to calm herself a little.

"Well?" the teacher demanded. "Apologise."

It was the older Gryffindor that finally approached Anny. "We apologise for misusing the term Death Eater." she announced loudly. "But the bible clearly states that snakes are evil."

"That is a symbol, Miss Wantage." the prefect returned. "A fable to warn us against others who might like to manipulate us. It could have been any animal chosen. The snake stood for healing long before the bible."

"The bible is the book of god, though." the girl called Wantage returned. "What was before it is sinful and ..."

"Let us not quarrel over religion." the teacher threw in hastily. "I believe we have cleared up what the role of the snake stands for in our play and that there are no Death Eaters in this class. Now you'd better not miss your portkey."

The Slytherins and Gryffindors both remained in tight groups and as far as possible from each other on the way back. Between the older students Anny felt safe from the Gryffindors' attacks, but what would happen next week? Most of the Slytherins seemed to be in the Romeo and Juliet group, while at least the three Gryffindors she hated the most were in her own. She really hoped Salazar would know what to do about them.

 

A/N: Will Salazar be able to help Anny? Will having friends outside of his own house and even outside of his school make Aterus a little more confident around people? And how will the Hogwarts students react to Billy being such a star in Chemistry class?

 

In the next chapter: Anny's talk with Salazar, Soccer training and Colleen's first Choir class.


	15. Huffleslyth, Ravenslyth ... Gryffinslyth?

Chapter 15: Huffleslyth, Ravenslyth ... Gryffinslyth?

 

"I just don't understand why they hate us so much." Anny sniffed. "Are snakes really evil?"

"No animal is evil, Anny." Salazar said mildly. "If you could talk to snakes the way I do, you'd see, but unfortunately it is a very rare gift."

"But the bible. Does it really say that snakes are the symbol of the devil?"

"The bible, is a very dangerous book and you should treat it with extreme caution." Salazar answered as if stating the obvious.

"Dangerous?" Anny gasped. "But isn't it the word of God?"

"It claims to be." Salazar allowed. "And that is exactly what makes it so dangerous. But tell me one thing, who wrote the bible? Was it God?"

"Of course it ... Oh right! It wasn't God, it was Jesus' apostles." Anny realised. "But they only wrote down what Jesus told them."

"Even if that were true it is easy to misunderstand what others tell you. The apostles were only human and prone to human errors. But in truth they didn't write the bible. They only told their stories to others, who told them to others again and so on. Stories always change with each telling, so finally some people decided to write them down. In fact several people did and most of them took the name of an apostle for the task. The real apostles however were long dead by then. For a long time there were a lot of different accounts going about until finally the church decided which ones were to be put into the bible. The others were banned and declared false."

"But how did they know which ones to choose and which ones to ban?"

"They chose the ones that were opportune to them at the time, of course." Salazar smiled. "One of the simplest tricks, really, and one of the most dangerous. People back then didn't have much of an education. Most couldn't even read or write. It was easy to mislead them."

"The bible is meant for good, though. So how can it be dangerous?"

"How can it be dangerous? Lets see ... witch hunts, crusades, religious wars ... Have you ever heard of a man called Gallileo Gallilei? All the poor man did was make a scientific discovery that contradicted an innocent little sentence in the bible. They burned him for it. Then there were Calvin, Luther ... Religion itself is a very dangerous thing, Anny. Those who believe to have the only truth are the most dangerous people of all. They believe themselves to be superior to everybody else and will not tolerate other people's arguments or world views. They kill and torture."

"But you were a Christian, Salazar, weren't you? Back in your days everybody was."

Salazar laughed. "Not the wizards, Anny. I was raised by druids. Druids who had to die in the name of the mighty church. Back then Christianity was at its worst and I saw too much of it for my comfort. It didn't tolerate magic any more than it did those of different faith, you know. It was a terrible and dangerous time."

 

Gangolf was having a bad day. Yes, another bad day. There was a Flying lesson threatening after lunch, he'd missed breakfast once again and then the whole class had laughed at him in Latin.

Even Jorge, who never understood much of anything, had laughed at whatever it was he'd actually said. Gangolf still didn't know what exactly his mistake had been, or why it had been so funny, but he didn't dare to ask. It was too embarrassing to admit that it hadn't just been a lapse of concentration. Maybe if he didn't ask, people would even think it had been an intentional joke.

And on top of all that their next class was Transfigurations. Not that Transfigurations was that bad as a subject, but Gangolf disliked the teacher.

McGonagall wasn't the worst of his teachers in his opinion, but she was the one unanimously disliked by all Slytherins, so it was safe to admit it. Maybe one of the others was actually willing to talk about it? Gangolf looked around for his classmates.

"What do you think we're going to do in Flying class today?" Rupert was just saying to Pank. "I'm so looking forward to really getting off the ground."

Not quite the kind of conversation Gangolf wanted to try and join. Maybe he could risk talking with Billy on such a safe topic?

"West Hogsmeade is really fascinating." he heard Aterus comment. "How do they manage to teach both wizards and squibs and still get such good results with both groups?"

"Draco says it's all a question of how you organise it." Billy answered. "Their schedules are much more individual than ours, so they're able to adapt to each student's needs."

Stupid squibs and their stupid school! Maybe the girls were a better choice. Girls were more likely to discuss interesting things and he wasn't really used to having boys around him from home.

"So the seeker dove right through between the beaters and got so fast that he didn't manage to stop in time and his broom caught on the goal post. He was thrown right through the hoop and the keeper caught the broom instead of the quaffle." Danny's eyes were glowing with fascination as she told her scary story.

"That couldn't possibly happen in underwater polo." Tullia commented. "For one thing our goals are much smaller and then all players have to be able to swim."

Well, Gangolf didn't really want to talk with Danny anyway.

"Great Aunt Enid has a special notice board in her entrance hall where she has a picture of each relative arranged as a family tree." Dinah was telling Anny and Colleen. "So every second year we have to send her new pictures to update her board."

"Our family tree's etched into the main dining room's wall in golden lettering." Colleen said. "It goes all the way down the length of the room by now. My brother's children will probably have to be written around the corner."

"What about your children?" Anny asked.

"Well, they'll be on the family tree of whatever family I marry into of course." Colleen answered.

"And not you family's?" Dinah gasped. "Isn't that a bit unfair?"

Colleen shrugged. "To be honest, I don't really care so much for the family tree. When I was five my grandmother made me sit in that dining room for hours every day and learn it by heart. Do you know how hard it is for a five year old to decipher that old artful writing? I learned to hate that wall back then."

"Five?" Dinah gasped. "That's cruel. I only had to be able to recognise all my living relatives at that age."

"Yes, five. That's just the way it is. My brother had to do the same last year when he was five." Colleen returned. "Anyway, have you two noticed the painting of the catwoman? The one just down that hallway?"

"You mean the witch that turns into a tiger while you watch?" Anny asked. "She's so cool!"

"Well, I overheard the sixth years talking about it and they say there's a secret passage behind it that leads into the original Transfigurations classroom, where Rowena Ravenclaw taught." Colleen continued. "I wonder whether it's true."

"We could ask Salazar." Anny suggested. "I need to visit him later anyway, so he can help me with my snake pronunciation. Maybe if I'm really realistic I'll get to keep the role."

"I absolutely hate McGonagall." Gangolf told the three girls. "You know, she graded my homework a three even though I wrote a whole sentence more than she asked for."

"I think your snake impersonation is great." Dinah declared. "I'm sure you'll get the role."

"Or maybe you'll get an even better one once the teacher sees how good you are." Colleen added. "Do you think they'll let us go see the play at the end of the year?"

"I think we'll put it on long before then. The teacher said it was the first of the year, not the only one."

Gangolf almost sighed. Hadn't they heard him at all?

He started to repeat himself, but by then they had reached the classroom and it was already full of Gryffindors. Gangolf quickly ducked into his seat before any of them decided to hit him. He didn't want them to break his perfect nose after all.

"Hi Colleen." somebody called.

"Hello, Xavier, Barthemia." Colleen sneered at the small Gryffindor in the shabby robes. Gangolf was quite sure that her name wasn't Barthemia and probably not Xavier either, but he couldn't remember her real one.

"It's Barbara." the girl told Colleen right away. "Barbara Xanton. Barthemia's just something Binns made up."

"At least Barthemia made you sound like you had a bit of class." Colleen returned haughtily. "Then again in those robes nobody could ever mistake you for anything other than a common mudblood."

"I'm Muggle born, too." Anny reminded Colleen. "And I don't run around wearing dirty rags."

"Well, that's what makes her a common mudblood and you just unfortunately a mudblood." Colleen declared.

"I was just going to ask whether any of you are taking Ballet." Barbara stated bravely. "I seem to be the only one in my house who does so I thought I'd just ask some of the other people I know."

"Ballet?" Danny snorted. "You? That's got to be a joke. What are you going to be? The swan in rags?"

"I'm taking Ballet!" slipped out of Gangolf's mouth. Finally someone who shared his interest!

"Really?" Barbara beamed at him. "But you're a boy."

"So? They need just as many male dancers at the ballet as female ones." Gangolf explained. "I'm going to be a big star someday."

"Oh, have you been taking lessons for very long then?" Barbara asked. "I've always wanted to, but we could never afford the lessons. At least my Dad said we couldn't. He probably just meant he didn't want to pay for them."

"Don't worry, I'm a beginner, too." Gangolf told her. "But I've often been to watch the ballet with my mother, so I know all about it. I can explain to you, if you have any problems."

"That'd be so great!" Barbara exclaimed. "I really need a friend in Ballet class. You're Mr. Bartering, right?"

Gangolf nodded. "Yes, but you can call me Gangolf. I've been looking forward to meeting some more civilised people as well. The Slytherins are such a rough lot."

This was wonderful! Finally he had found someone in this school who was worthy of being his friend! Gangolf was so happy that he didn't even notice how all their classmates were glaring at them as they talked.

"Rough lot?" Colleen whispered to herself incredulously. How dare that little nancy-boy! Yes, the other girls were a little undisciplined and common, but except for Danny Colleen certainly wouldn't describe them as rough.

Of the boys Billy and Rupert seemed a little rough around the edges, but Aterus was a perfect young gentlewizard and Pank just a little boyish. After getting to know Anny and Dinah a little better and finding out about their background Colleen was inclined to believe that most of her classmates would shape up quite nicely with time. Their parents simply hadn't been as thorough in their education as her grandmother had and maybe it wasn't really expected of modern children to be perfect ladies and gentlewizards by the time they entered Hogwarts. They had seven more years to grow up, after all.

So how could Bartering call them rough! Including herself! When had she ever lapsed in her ladylike manners?

And now he was actually inviting that shabby Gryffindor to sit at his desk. In her chair!

"Traitor." Billy hissed angrily. "We can't tolerate that. He's collaborating with the enemy."

"Let him." said Danny. "They're welcome to him. At least he won't hang around us as much, if he becomes an honorary Gryffindor."

"Easy for you to say." Colleen glared at Barbara. "You don't have to sit next to him in class."

"Just ignore him." Pank suggested. "I doubt he'd dare to harm any of us on purpose. He is a Slytherin and will have to live with us. We just can't let him overhear anything the Gryffindors could use against us. He's stupid enough to just go and tell them whatever they want to know."

"I want to sit with Anny and Dinah." Colleen complained. "Or at least Tullia, or Aterus."

"Professor McGonagall said we couldn't change the seating order anymore this year." Rupert reminded her. "And anyway the desks are for two people, not three. There aren't any free seats left."

"I'll sit with you in Transfiguration next year." Anny promised. "And I'll take Gangolf in Charms."

"I suppose I could sit next to him in History." Dinah said. "I always do homework in that class anyway."

"Maybe we can come up with an arrangement that will have each of us sitting with him for only one class." Pank decided. "That'd be fair, wouldn't it?"

"I can't sit with him." Danny announced. "I'd throttle him by the end of the first lesson."

"Then neither can I." declared Billy.

"Fine." sighed Pank fishing around in his bag for a fresh roll of parchment. "I'll try to avoid assigning you two to Gangolf, but if it means somebody else would have to take him twice, you're out of luck."

He didn't get to start his seating plan though, because before he found the parchment Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom.

Colleen started to run to her desk like everybody else, but Barbara Xanton was still in her chair and she stopped in the corridor between the rows of desks unsure what to do.

"Order please!" McGonagall demanded. "Mr. Sanger will you please stand behind your seat not on it! Miss Nocturne, to your desk. Mr. ..."

"But Professor!" Colleen called. This wasn't her fault, after all. "That Xavier girl's in my chair. There's not enough room behind her."

"Xavier?" McGonagall asked sounding confused.

"She means Barbara." Cesareus Tonks supplied. "Professor Binns called her Ms. Xavier instead of Xanton."

"Ms. Xanton!" McGonagall finally noticed Barbara and Gangolf. "Kindly stop talking and move back to your own place. Mr. Bartering, please get up."

Colleen gave Barbara her most haughty look as she reclaimed her finally vacated chair. She wished she could stick out her tongue at the Gryffindor, but of course a Lady would never do that and she couldn't risk getting detention today. It'd be simply impossible if she had to miss her first Choir Club meeting.

 

"I can't believe Gangolf is in the hospital wing again." Rupert announced when they met up in the common room after Charms class that day.

"Well, I can't believe how he managed to collide with Nocturne of all people." Danny sneered. "She was the furthest one away from him. He should have had plenty of time to correct his course, even if he doesn't know how to stop."

Colleen rubbed her shoulder where Gangolf had slammed into her. "You know, I think I've got a bruise."

"At least you managed to stay in the air." Tullia said. "I'm sure I'd have been swept right off my broom and crashed along with Gangolf. I bet that would have caused more than one bruise."

"That Gangolf is a menace to wizardkind." Colleen agreed. "Sooner or later he's going to seriously hurt someone."

"And he's a hexing Gryffindor lover to boot." Danny nodded. "He should be kicked out of Flying class."

"He should be kicked out of Slytherin." Billy said. "He doesn't belong here."

"The sorting hat placed him in our house, so we still owe him house loyalty." declared Pank. "And we have an hour left before Soccer training that we should use to visit him."

"Do we have to?" asked Danny and Billy groaned, but they all followed Pank up to the hospital wing.

Where they found Barbara Xanton already sitting at Gangolf's bedside chatting away happily.

"His Gryffinbitch's already here." Danny concluded. "He's happy and doesn't want to see us. We can go."

She turned to leave, but Dinah grabbed a hold of her robes and held her back.

"No, we can't. That'd be impolite." she explained.

"Who cares about being polite to people they don't like?" Danny shot back.

"You mean we have to sit here with the mudblood?" Colleen frowned.

"Will you just stop calling her mudblood?" Anny hissed under her breath. "I'm Muggle born too."

"You're not filthy, though. I wouldn't say that to you." Colleen assured her.

And indeed there were some splatters of ... something on Barbara's robes. It was probably only ink, since they hadn't been there when she had entered Charms class and she hadn't had much time to get in contact with anything else since it appeared that she'd come to the hospital wing straight from class.

"So Gangolf," Pank said trying to be nice. "How are you? Not hurt too badly, we hope."

"Hurting all over." Gangolf complained. "I even have bruises in my face."

"Ah, but bruises heal fast." Danny snorted. "If that's all that's wrong with you ..."

"Danny means to say that you're lucky that you don't have any cuts that might leave a scar." Dinah attempted to save the situation. "We were worried that you might have fallen onto a sharp stone or something."

"But I also sprained my ankle." Gangolf whined. "If it isn't healed by tomorrow I can't go to my Ballet class. I'll miss out on my very first lesson!"

"Nonsense!" Madam Pomfrey snorted. "Your ankle should already be mending. You'll be absolutely fine by breakfast."

"So he can come back to the common room with us?" Rupert asked.

"Not yet, dear." the nurse shook her head. "It will heal better, if he doesn't put any weight on that foot for the next two or three hours. Since there aren't any more classes today anyway it will be best, if he stays here overnight and rejoins you at breakfast."

"We have Astronomy tonight." Aterus corrected the nurse.

"Oh, I see. In that case, I will send him up to the Astronomy tower at midnight, if you'll bring his book with you." Pomfrey decided. "We wouldn't want Mr. Bartering to miss any more classes than absolutely necessary."

Gangolf shot Aterus an angry look. "Ah, but one single Astronomy lesson can't do much harm." he told the nurse. "I'm sure I can catch it up easily."

"One lesson, yes, but considering how accident prone you are we'd better assume that you are going to miss a lot more classes until the end of the year and we do want you to be able to pass your exams, don't we?" the nurse warned.

"I'm not accident prone!" Gangolf protested. "And I'm an excellent student. I learn so easily ..."

"Not accident prone?" the nurse repeated. "You've been in school for two weeks so far and this is the what? third or fourth? time I've had to treat you for injuries. If that's not accident prone, I don't know what is."

 

An hour later Anny, Billy and Pank stood out on the Quidditch pitch in their Sports clothes. A Hufflepuff fourth year called Lindy had cast warming charms on them to protect them against the cold wind that was blowing today. Just like the first years she was new on the team and very excited about having been picked for a first team, even if it was only the juniors.

"I'm going to be a defender it said on the list." she told them.

"Me too." said Pank. "Billy and Anny are attackers."

"I'm only a reserve, though." Anny added. "Billy's on the real team." "So am I." said Shannon O'Malley. "I'm so glad I won't be the only first year on the first team. I hope the older students won't just run us over all the time."

Billy shrugged. "Why would they? They're not even all that big. Back at home I'd probably be playing with the Rakers by now. There everyone from eleven to seventeen plays in one team. Eleven to fourteen is nothing."

"Oh, stop boasting." snapped Lucinda Iterton. "I bet you've never really played at all."

"Of course I have." Billy pouted. "I've been playing Soccer since I could walk."

"Liar!" accused Lucinda.

"Actually, that might be true." Pit stepped between them. "You see, Billy has a brother who's quite a bit older than him and he used to be the Rakers' keeper. He probably did start teaching his brother very young."

"Like a so much older brother would play with a tiny baby." Caligula Lestrange snorted.

"Believe it or not, I have a very good relationship with Draco." Billy informed him.

"With an age difference as large as yours it's not really surprising and most of the children I know from West Hogsmeade do watch out for their siblings a lot." Pit confirmed. "Now, let's get started."

They did all sorts of exercises that were supposed to help them learn to keep better control of the ball that day and Pank soon began to envy Billy and Anny their skill. In these exercises it was quite obvious which students had played Soccer before and which hadn't. Even Billy had a hard time with some of Pit's precision exercises near the end, though. Pank and Lucinda luckily weren't even asked to try those.

"We'll practise that once you have mastered the easier exercises." Pit told them. "Until then it won't do you much good anyway. We can't expect you to learn everything in only one day."

At the end of the lesson they even played a short game, which the first team won clearly, but Pank still left with the feeling that he had done well. The result could have been worse. After all they had managed to stop almost all of Shannon's attacks. Only Billy and the first team's third attacker, a forth year called Tadeus, had gotten past Samantha a few times and Caligula had actually missed a lucky shot by a boy called Gregor. Yes, Gregor, not Gregory. Pank had no idea where that name came from, nor what house or year Gregor was in, but he was definitely proud to be on the same team.

 

"What is that thing?" Colleen poked the food on her plate with her fork.

"Looks like rice with pieces of meat in it." Rupert diagnosed and led a forkful of the offending food to his mouth.

He chewed, then nodded. "Yep, definitely rice and meat."

Tullia pierced a piece of meat with her fork then held it up for inspection. It didn't look too appetising in her opinion. She nibbled on it.

"Eeewww! This is worse than cow."

Aterus, too frowned at the taste. "Are you sure that meat's okay?"

Rupert nodded. "Seems fine to me."

"Some of the pieces are rather hard to chew." Dinah admitted. "But I think that's just sinews."

"Sinews?" Colleen asked. "That settles it. I'm not eating it."

"Right." Tullia pushed away her plate and grabbed for the salad bowl.

"You should at least eat the rice." Danny advised her. "It's fine and there's no telling what we're going to get for pudding. What if you don't like that either?"

Colleen considered her plate once again. Should she, or shouldn't she? The food looked positively icky, but so had the spaghetti at first glance. Maybe the rice was really good once one tried it?

"So what's for dinner?" Billy asked happily as the Soccer players joined them. "I'm starving."

"You'll probably have to continue to do so." Tullia informed him sadly then grinned at Colleen. "It's icky."

"Oh, can't you finally stop teasing Colleen about that?" Anny exclaimed. "It's ..."

"I'm not. I really mean it. This food is icky. Even Dinah said so." Tullia defended herself.

"I didn't." Dinah protested. "I did not use that word."

"But you meant it." Tullia insisted.

"And I definitely thought it." Colleen admitted. "Just look at that lump, Anny! It is icky."

"It ..." Anny started, then hesitated looking at the 'lump'. "Well ... How does it taste?"

"Okay." Rupert declared.

"Edible." said Danny.

"But just barely." amended Aterus.

"Even worse than it looks." claimed Tullia.

Anny looked to Dinah and Colleen.

"The rice is really good." Dinah evaded the answer.

"I don't know." Colleen admitted. "I'm still deliberating whether to try it at all."

Meanwhile Billy had taken a plate and dug in. He seemed to have no more problems with the taste than Rupert.

"I'll give it a try." Anny decided. After all Tullia had proven to be picky about meat dishes before.

In the end she had to agree with Aterus, though. Just barely edible and definitely not up to the usual standard of Hogwarts food.

"Maybe the cook got sick and they had to get a replacement." Dinah suggested when she mentioned it.

"But Hogwarts has lots of house elves who know how to cook." Aterus reminded her. "I think somebody must like this food. Maybe one of the staff."

 

"Excuse me, Mr. Portrait, Sir?" Anny pulled Colleen up to the picture of an old wizard dressed in purple robes and a red hat. "Excuse me!"

Apparently the picture was hard of hearing on top of being colour blind. Colleen very much doubted whether she should get involved with a character like that, but then she really wanted to get to her class.

"Do you know the way to the old music classroom?" Anny yelled at the portrait.

"Olde music classroom?" the portrait repeated and Colleen began to wonder which was older, the picture or the castle. "I know not of any olde music classroom, but the young folks, they built a music room somewhere down yonder corridor. Might it be that is what thou art seeking."

"Young folks? Art?" Anny looked completely confused and Dinah simply gaped at the picture.

"Oh yes, that might well be it." Colleen jumped in. "Thank you very much good Lord."

"Radulf Gryffindor at your service, fair maiden." The picture bowed to her elegantly.

Colleen quickly pulled her friends away in the direction Radulf had indicated.

"Wait a minute!" Dinah exclaimed just as they rounded the corner. "Wasn't Radulf Gryffindor Godric's grandfather?"

"Maybe." Colleen allowed. "But I really don't care about the Gryffindor family tree. If you're interested, I'm sure Salazar would know. Right now I just want my classroom."

Whoever Radulf was, he'd been right, though. The Choir was meeting in a dusty, but large room down that corridor.

A weird witch wearing multicoloured shawls and all sorts of mismatched jewellery was sitting at a large piano which two house elves were eagerly dusting while a third appeared to be checking the strings and occasionally got hit by a hammer when the witch absently struck a key.

"Typical." a tall Gryffindor commented to her friend. "She had at least two weeks to get the room prepared and when does she get started? Five minutes before the lesson. That's Trellawney for you."

"At least the elf seems to know how to tune a piano." a boy in West Hogsmeade robes commented. "The one at our school is so out of tune the Conjuring teacher usually brings his private keyboard so it won't mess up the incantation."

There seemed to be a lot of students in the Choir club and Anny and Dinah decided to leave before they were mistaken for part of the class. Apparently Dinah hated to sing.

So Colleen decided to take a short trip around the room and look for familiar faces. The fist person she recognised was Jorge, but he shied away when she waved at him. Maybe she shouldn't have snapped at him when he'd come to collect her homework.

She had better luck with the girl Dinah referred to as Lauri and the two other Hufflepuff first years, Nigel and Jon, were willing to at least talk to her as well. Her chances at making a friend in Choir class didn't look that good, though, Colleen thought. The four Hufflepuffs were an even number and the rest of the first years all seemed to be from West Hogsmeade. Colleen was quite sure that her grandmother would not approve of her getting close to any of them.

"Alright class!" Professor Trellawney finally announced after the house elves informed her that the piano was ready and went on to dusting off the conductor's board. "Get in position."

What position? Who was supposed to stand where?

There was a lot of yelling and shoving until somebody finally got through with the suggestion to line up by year, first years in the first row, seventh years in the last.

"Oh no, no no!" Professor Trellawney declared when she saw the result. "All those wearing green robes to the left, black robes to the right."

"Shouldn't we sort by gender and singing voice?" somebody said from the back. "I'm a baritone. I know this isn't going to work, if I have to stand between a bass and a soprano."

"Very well, but then we have to check everyone's voice." Trellawney agreed. "You there, sing God Save the Queen!"

Jorge blinked at her. Trellawney started to play.

"I don't think he can, Professor." Nigel informed her. "He just moved here from Spain."

"Fine then ... I don't know any Spanish songs." Trellawney realised all of a sudden.

"Well, maybe if you let some other students sing it first, maybe he'll be able to memorise it." the baritone suggested. "It's not like he has to get all the text right for you to judge his voice."

So Trellawney started at the other end of the first row and each of the eight first years had to sing the first few lines of God Save the Queen, then was assigned a place to stand. Colleen ended up between a girl from West Hogsmeade and Lauri, and Jorge did indeed sing the song almost perfectly after having heard it seven times.

For the second years Trellawney mercifully switched to Greensleeves and the third years had to sing Scotland the Brave with the only exception of one Irish girl who insisted on being allowed to sing Greensleeves as well.

Colleen was feeling seriously bored by the time Trellawney picked I'm a Little Teapot to the horror of the fourth years and the house elves saved them by reminding Trellawney that the class was running late anyway.

"Oh well, it seems we have to continue our singing test next week." Trellawney decided. "Be punctual."

Colleen wondered whether the professor meant them or herself for a moment.

"I really hope she forgets about the little teapot over the weekend." sighed a forth year as he slipped out past Colleen.

Colleen sighed as well. "And I was looking forward to this so much."

"Maybe it's just starting problems." Lauri suggested. "Give it a few weeks."

"I hope you're right." Colleen said. "My French club started a lot better, though."

"Yes, I heard. Cam was all excited about it, too." Lauri nodded. "Do you already have your book as well? Cam's arrived at lunch. I think she's still busy staring at all the pictures in it and trying to read out the chapter titles."

Colleen sighed. "No, my parents still haven't even sent my Sports clothes."

"Oh, do you live very far from here?"

"Not at all." Colleen shook her head. "It's just that they're always so busy and I suppose they can't well send a house elf to shop for Muggle clothes."

"But you're still worried that something might be wrong." Lauri remarked.

"Well, I thought my grandmother would find the time to owl a little reply to assure me that the owl arrived at all." Collen admitted. "Just a few lines of advice. You know, the usual: 'Remember to conduct yourself like a lady, wear your cloak when you go outside, don't befriend any mudbloods ...' Maybe even a little: 'Congratulations on getting into Slytherin'."

"Maybe she thinks you're old enough to know those things anyway and her congratulations will arrive with the clothes and book." Lauri suggested. "Yes, she probably just wanted to spare her owl a double trip."

Or maybe Grandmother was sick and couldn't get to the owlery. Colleen nodded mutely hoping that Lauri wouldn't notice that she was fighting a sudden lump in her throat.

"Would she really forbid you to make friends with Muggle borns?" Lauri asked maybe sensing that a change of topic was in order.

Common as they might be Hufflepuffs still seemed to have a natural talent for these things, but Colleen still didn't trust her voice not to break, so she just nodded again.

"But why? They're our classmates." Lauri exclaimed. "You're not really going to listen to that, are you?"

Colleen shook her head. "I'm not going to look for friendships with people my family wouldn't approve of, but I can't well turn down every offer of friendship I get. I wouldn't even know what to do without Anny anyway and I have a feeling they're not going to approve of my liking Cam either."

Lauri beamed at her. "So you do want to be friends with Cam? She wasn't sure, because you seemed so cold at first. She'll be so happy when I tell her!"

Colleen actually felt herself blush. "I don't mean to be cold. Really, I like Cam. I'm just not used to being so open with my feelings when I hardly know a person. It's something Slytherins just don't do."

"I'll tell her." Lauri promised. "And don't you worry about your Gran. I'm sure her owl will arrive any day now."

If only Colleen had been so sure. She'd never before gone so long without hearing from her family, but then she'd always lived with her family until now and even when her parents had been away her Grandmother and brother had always been there. Usually there'd also be an owl from her parents, if they stayed somewhere for over a week.

But then the owls were usually addressed to her grandmother with only a few words added for her and her Phelippe.

"So how was Choir class?" her classmates were sitting at the table right next to the common room entrance.

"Boring." Colleen admitted. "The teacher's just testing everybody's voice. The only thing I got to do was sing a few lines of God Save The Queen."

"Oh, sorry to hear that." Tullia was actually talking to her?

That was new, but remembering her promise to Lauri Colleen decided not to show her surprise.

"I talked with Lauri, though." she remarked instead. "She seems nice."

"Oh, what did you talk about?" Dinah asked.

"Just the choir and French class. She says Cam already has her book, so I suppose I don't have to worry about the next lesson anymore."

"Is that all you care about?" Pank snapped. "Whether you'll have someone to lend you a French book?"

"No!" Colleen yelled back at him angrily. "If you have to know, I'm worried that my Grandmother might be very sick. I'm worried that something might have happened to my owl. And I'm worried about my family, because they haven't owled me back even though I sent them three separate owls. That's what I'm worried about!"

Pank paled and drew back. "I ... I didn't mean to ..."

"Pank just meant to ask whether you'd care to be nice to Cam at all, if you had your French book already." Dinah translated. "Or if you're just using her."

"What? No, I wanted a friend in my French class anyway and I think Cam's really nice." Colleen returned hastily. "I like Hufflepuffs."

"She's a Gryffinpuff, though." Billy frowned.

"A what?" eight pairs of eyes stared at Billy.

"A Gryffinpuff." Billy repeated. "A Hufflepuff with Gryffindor tendencies. Don't you know that nobody is perfectly suited to only one house? There isn't really one kind of Hufflepuff, there are three: Slythepuffs, Ravenpuffs and Gryffinpuffs according to what is their second strongest house influence."

"So what about Slytherins?" Aterus asked. "Are there three kinds of us, too?"

Billy shook his head. "No, Slytherins only come in two kinds, I think. You can be either Huffleslyth or Ravenslyth."

"Why not Slythepuff?" Anny asked.

"Because the second part defines the dominant house." Billy explained. "The first part defines the second influence. I for example am a Huffleslyth. The hat put me in Slytherin, but it said I was also suited for Hufflepuff."

"But why not the other way around?" insisted Rupert. "Shouldn't the stronger house go first?"

Billy thought for a moment, then held up his quill. "Is a goose feather a goose or a feather?" he asked Rupert.

"Why it's a feather, of course."

"See, the second word counts more." Billy smiled.

"So how do you tell what kind of Slytherin you are?" asked Anny.

"Well, what other house did the hat suggest to you?" Billy asked back.

"Hufflepuff." Anny answered.

"Then you're obviously a Huffleslyth as well." Billy declared.

"That would make me a Ravenslyth, then." Colleen decided. "The hat said I wasn't suited for Hufflepuff at all. Do you think that will affect my friendship with Cam?"

Billy just shrugged, but Dinah shook her head.

"No way." she promised. "Hufflepuffs enjoy being friends with a lot of different people. She'll probably be fascinated with your differences."

"You'll just have to accept that she's completely different from you as well." Anny added. "The situation calls for tolerance."

"Because that's something Nocturne's at all good at?" Danny laughed.

"Oh, leave her alone." Dinah groaned. "So how about the rest of you? I'm Huffleslyth, obviously."

"Me too." Rupert admitted. "I almost became a Hufflepuff in fact."

"I'm a Ravenslyth." said Pank. "Aterus?"

"The hat didn't consider much with me." Aterus shrugged. "I think Ravenslyth as well, though."

"I almost became a Ravenclaw." Tullia confessed. "And I bet Danny's a Ravenslyth as well, right?"

Danny actually blushed and evaded her eyes. "Yes." she lied. "Though the hat didn't consider it much either."

"So Gangolf, what are you, Huffleslyth or Ravenslyth?" Pank asked the group's last member.

"Neither." Gangolf said.

"What?" Billy stared at him. "That's not possible. You've got to be something."

"I'm not." Gangolf insisted.

"Can't be." Billy insisted.

"Well, what did the hat say to you?" Pank asked.

Gangolf thought for a moment. "It said: 'Well, you're definitely not loyal enough for a Hufflepuff and not studious like a Ravenclaw either. Gryffindor might work, but you're not exactly brave and you don't have the strong ambition of a Slytherin.' It went on about that for a while and finally said that I'd probably be ambitious once I knew what I wanted to do with my life and sorted me into Slytherin."

"Does that make him a ... Gryffinslyth, then?" Rupert asked. "I thought they didn't exist?"

"I thought they didn't." Billy said. "But I suppose they're just very rare."

"Do you think it's a very bad thing to be a Gryffinslyth?" Danny asked unusually softly.

There was a moment of silence while everybody just stared at Gangolf.

"I suppose it's okay, as long as you're a lot more Slytherin than Gryffindor." Pank finally said to restore the peace. "But you've got to have a very contradictory personality, Gangolf."

 

A/N: So, if there are ten Slytherin first years, why were only eight pairs of eyes staring at Billy when he first mentioned Gryffinpuffs? Why did Danny lie? And is Gangolf really a Gryffinslyth?

 

In the next chapter: The Slytherins have a bad Friday, Danny has two classes at once and Gangolf and Barbara go to their first Ballet lesson. (And I've never been to the ballet so how am I going to write this?!)


	16. Bad Luck and Math

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm afraid the Riddles Club didn't quite make it into this chapter after all. There was too much else going on and I ended up having to choose between it and Ballet. It will be at the beginning of the next chapter, though.

Chapter 16: Bad Luck and Math

 

Friday started out badly for the Slytherins.

First there was no hot water in the boys' bathroom forcing them to either take cold showers or content themselves with a quick wash at the sink.

Billy, who didn't seem bothered at all, and Rupert chose the shower and came out cold, but refreshed. Pank and Aterus opted for the sink, but after washing the most indispensable spots with chattering teeth Aterus decided to forego any further cleaning for the day. Hopefully the warm water would be restored by the time they went to bed.

The biggest problem however was Gangolf. He absolutely refused to allow any cold water to touch his skin, but he was even less willing to leave the room without his customary shower. Apparently it was an absolute necessity to wash with warm water before applying his skin care potion.

Meanwhile, in the girls' dorm Colleen had almost overslept and couldn't find her hairbrush. Anny and Dinah were in the showers, where she didn't want to disturb them, so she reluctantly decided to approach Tullia with the problem.

Tullia didn't know Colleen's hairbrush at all, but understood that the girl couldn't appear at breakfast uncombed. Together the two girls started to search Colleen's trunk, cupboard and bedside table.

"I'm sure I put it on the bedside table after brushing my hair before bed." Colleen said for about the third time. "Do you think the house elves would take it?"

Tullia shrugged. She didn't know too much about house elves.

"Well, maybe to clean it." she suggested. "But why would they clean our dorm in the middle of the night with us sleeping in it and why didn't they put it right back where they took it from? It can't take more than a minute or two to clean a hairbrush."

"What are you doing with that death eater!" Danny had just walked in to find both of them kneeling in front of Colleen's open trunk.

"I'm not a death eater!" Colleen yelled.

"We're just looking for Colleen's hairbrush." Tullia tried to explain, but Danny wasn't listening.

She grabbed Tullia's hand and physically pulled her away from Colleen continuing to yell at both of them the whole time.

Tullia lowered her eyes feeling ashamed of being such a push-over and at the same time ashamed of Danny's reaction to what she considered a harmless little interaction with a classmate. And there she saw it!

"Colleen! It's under the bed!" Danny and Colleen both stared at her in surprise for a moment. Neither had ever heard Tullia yell before.

Then Colleen's eyes went over to the bed and indeed, there was her hairbrush lying on the floor half under it. It must have dropped during the night and then in her frantic search she must have accidentally kicked it under the piece of furniture!

"Oh, thank you! You found it!" she called out and hastily picked it up.

Danny glared and didn't speak to Tullia all through breakfast.

Gangolf meanwhile spent breakfast in the girls' dorm where Dinah and Anny had reluctantly allowed him to use one of their showers after finding out that the boys' side was entirely without hot water this morning.

On the way to History class Billy ran afoul of a group of disgruntled Gryffindors who had a Potions test later that day. They kept teasing him and calling him daddy's boy until Billy punched the tallest of them in the face, right as Professor McGonagall walked around the corner.

With twenty points less, for fighting in the halls and talking back to a teacher the Slytherin first years finally made it into History class seconds after Professor Binns drifted up through the floor. They lost another ten points for being late for class.

Somehow the news of the fight must have reached the History classroom before the Slytherins, because the Gryffindor first years kept chanting "Daddy's boy, daddy's boy." under their breaths all through the lesson.

At least the Charms lesson went by without any incidents and the children began to breathe more easily, until at lunch Gangolf somehow managed to trip and pour a bowl of hot soup into Caligula Lestrange's lap. Only the fast intervention of Professor Snape saved Gangolf from suffering any serious damage.

Before leaving the hall to change into clean robes Caligula sent Gangolf such a hateful glare that even Billy worried about him for a moment, but Gangolf never noticed. He was too busy playing the hero for Barbara who'd rushed over the moment she'd seen Snape draw his wand.

Apparently Barbara was terrified of Professor Snape. The Slytherins didn't quite understand why, though. How could anyone be afraid of their favourite teacher?

Meanwhile Danny was desperately trying to find out who the teacher of the Gymnastics club was as she had just noticed that the Gymnastics junior class was at exactly the same time she had Volleyball. In fact it was in the boys' gym, while Volleyball was in the girls'.

"I can't possibly be in two classes at once." she whined to Tullia. "Just where should I go today?"

"Volleyball of course." Tullia answered at once.

"Gymnastics." insisted Dinah.

Danny groaned. "I have to talk to the teachers."

 

There was chaos in Filch's office when Danny, Dinah and Tullia arrived to be portkeyed to West Hogsmeade.

"Silence!" Filch was yelling at the top of his lungs. "Basketballers to this end of the room, volleyballers to the other and gymnasts stay in the middle."

Dinah obediently joined the middle group and Tullia after a moment walked over to the right where she frowned at the Gryffindors already there. Danny hesitated right by the door. She still hadn't decided what class to go to.

"Well," Filch demanded rather roughly. "You're too small for today's Basketball lesson, so are you here for Volleyball or Gymnastics?"

"I don't know." Danny admitted. "I'm signed up for both classes."

Filch blinked at her. "I see." he said finally. "Then join the Volleyball group for now. I'll just check attendance, then port you over."

"So I'm to join the Volleyball class then?" Danny asked. "What about Gymnastics?"

"You'll have to ask your teachers about that." Filch shrugged. "I'm only supposed to portkey you there. When I call your name, come to my desk for your food ticket and then grab a hold of the portkey."

Things grew no less hectic once they arrived, though. As it turned out, both Basketball group three and Gymnastics junior claimed the boys' gym for themselves. The Basketballers were mostly sixth and seventh years, while Gymnastics junior was for first to third year, but there were only ten Basketballers and twenty gymnasts.

Curious as usual Danny ran right over into the boys' gym after changing and left it to Tullia to explain her problem to the Volleyball teacher.

She didn't recognise either of the teachers who were yelling at each other in there, but it seemed that the witch was the Gymnastics teacher and the wizard the Basketball teacher.

"We cannot possibly play without hoops!" the wizard roared. "You can set up a cursed stereo to hop around to anywhere. Ask that fool Dumbledore for an empty classroom!"

Either he had a point there, or the witch simply gave up, because she couldn't match his volume. She finally rounded up her students and herded them over into the girls' gym.

"There's a Volleyball class over there." a West Hogsmeade girl warned her.

"And I should be in it as well as in your class." Danny added. "Do you think Dinah and I could perhaps join a different group?"

The teacher stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned around to regard Danny. "What year are you?"

"First." Danny stated wondering what that had to do with it.

"Impossible." the teacher decided. "I have only two Gymnastics classes and the other one is fourth to seventh years. They'd be much too tall for you."

"But my friend Billy says in Merlin Park Soccer teams have players ranging from eleven to seventeen." Danny argued.

"I've seen gangs with members ranging from ten to nineteen play Soccer together, but I still don't think it's a good idea." the teacher returned. "Try switching groups in Volleyball. They've got more classes."

In the girls' gym Tullia had been assigned to training how to properly hit a volleyball with the Gryffindor first years and it was not going well. All the other groups were working in pairs and, to be honest, so were Sophie-Marleene and Laura. Tullia was doing her best to get at the ball whenever one of the two missed, but the Gryffindors would only hiss disparaging comments at her and snatch it back.

The Sports teacher seemed torn between stepping in there and investigating the sudden arrival of twenty more students for a moment, but finally settled on a hasty: "Now girls, do remember to let your friend play as well. It works perfectly fine as a three way."

"What friend?" snapped Laura. "That slimy snake isn't any friend of mine."

But the teacher had already turned away when she noticed her colleague who'd stepped in after her students.

"Mara!" she called out to her. "What the hell is going on? I'm trying to teach here."

"Well, so am I, but dear Michael decided to kick me out of my assigned classroom." the Gymnastics teacher, apparently called Mara, complained. "He said to set up a stereo in an unused classroom. The nerve of the man!"

The Volleyball teacher blinked and decided she wanted no trouble with her colleague while she was in this mood.

"Oh, I'm sure Ralph will fix it easily." she assured Mara. "And we can live with it for today. In fact, how about doing some ball exercises? Gymnasts do work with balls sometimes, don't they? And it will give my students a chance to get a feeling for the ball as well."

"Different balls." Mara pointed out. "And different exercises. We don't throw balls about much."

"So your students use a Gymnastics ball and mine a Volleyball and we'll do your types of exercises. It's all about familiarising ourselves with the ball for us anyway. The exercises themselves won't make a big difference and . . . Just what is it with the three of you?"

"Slytherins are evil gits." Laura declared pointing at Tullia.

"Well, the Gryffindors are all bullies then." Tullia returned.

The Volleyball teacher blinked once again, then looked to Mara, but the Gymnastics teacher couldn't help either. They'd both heard of the Hogwarts houses, but didn't quite get their point, nor did they have any understanding of the relationships between them. To them the houses were much like the different levels classes had at West Hogsmeade, though neither of them had any direct experience with those either. Sports classes were assigned based on what students were free at what time and the availability of the gyms and Mara normally taught Care for Magical Creatures, an elective where students were only split into two classes due to the popularity of the subject.

They knew that Hogwarts students were assigned to their houses rather randomly by some ritual around a magical hat rather than their academic abilities and that the system was rather rough compared to their own due to not allowing different combinations in different classes or even reassignments in later years, but the consequences of drawing such clear lines between the groups hadn't occurred to them until now. From their perspective there'd been West Hogsmeade students and Hogwarts students and it was their duty to slowly form a union between the members of those two groups in their classes. They had expected to find prejudice and resentment there, but now it turned out that the same problems existed within what they had until now thought of as the Hogwarts group.

"I suppose they're like rival gangs." Mara suggested after a moment. "Maybe the curly girl would do better with a different group?"

"Well, the friend she brought is currently in your class." the Volleyball teacher returned. "And those two are the only other Hogwarts students that are about the same size. Do you think she'd do better with some of ours?"

Mara looked from her colleague to the three girls and decided to take control. "Alright, we're going to switch to individual exercises next anyway." she announced. "You!" she pointed at Laura. "Come here. You're staying right at my side until I tell you differently. You." she continued pointing at Tullia this time. "Go, get another Volleyball to work with. They're in a big basket through that door. And you." pointing at Sophie-Marleene. "Take the ball you already have and stand over there."

The girls exchanged nervous glances, but when their own teacher didn't step in they did as they had been told.

"Now those Volleyballers who don't have a ball in their hands right now, go get one from the big basket." Mara continued pointing at the same door through which she had sent Tullia again. "Not you!" she hissed when Laura made to follow them. "Did I tell you, you could leave me?"

Laura shrank back and shook her head. Danny smirked at her. The stupid Gryffindor was finally getting what she deserved.

Mara however ignored them both and continued to set up the Volleyball students at regular intervals from where Sophie-Marleene stood. When Tullia returned she started another line of students at the other end of the gym.

"Alright, you can go get your ball now." she told Laura in between two place assignments. "Now, Gymnastics students! If you go through that door, you will find two big ball baskets in there. One contains basketballs, the other volleyballs, if there are any left. No, no, stop! Don't run off, yet. You don't know what I want you to do!"

Danny and a few others who'd dashed off for the door trudged back reluctantly.

"Behind the baskets is a cupboard that my colleague should have unlocked by now." Mara continued. "In there are the smaller balls. Now don't get them confused! The gymnastics balls are blue and a little smaller than volleyballs, but distinctly bigger than the tennis balls and baseballs. I want you to each bring out a gymnastics ball."

They stormed off into the small storing room and stopped in front of the cupboard pushing and shoving. Danny easily managed to grab one of the smooth dark blue balls thanks to clever use of her feet and elbows, but by the time Dinah finally reached the front of the group there were no more blue balls in sight.

The Sports teacher pulled one last shabby and almost airless volleyball out of the volleyball basket and handed it to the boy in front of her then shrugged.

"There are five soccer balls in here and ten handballs in the cupboard." she suggested. "No more gymnastics balls or volleyballs, I'm afraid."

Dinah decided to go for a soccer ball, but when they walked into the gym with those Mara sent them right back.

"No, no, no. Those are soccer balls." she declared. "Totally unfit for Gymnastics."

"We're out of gymnastics balls." the Volleyball teacher stated. "Unless you want to go over and get them from the other gym."

Mara frowned. Whoever Michael was, she clearly didn't want to risk his wrath any further.

"Give them handballs then. Those are at least the right size." she decided.

With a sigh Dinah dropped her soccer ball back into its basket and received a smaller but similar ball instead. She couldn't help thinking that the handball was very different from the smooth plastic gymnastics ball Danny had. It consisted of little leather patches like the soccer ball, but due to its smaller size the resulting corners and edges were much more obvious. Not nearly as pretty, she thought.

Mara however seemed satisfied with the exchange and assigned her a place in the front of the group.

"Now, everybody stretch the arm that isn't holding the ball to the side and turn around a few times to make sure that you have enough room." the teacher ordered. "If you're in any danger of colliding with somebody else's hand move further away from them."

There was a commotion somewhere behind Dinah where some students apparently had stood too closely together, but it was soon corrected and Mara showed them how to balance the ball over their heads in one hand without looking at it.

After a moment of insecurity as she raised her hand she found that exercise quite easy as did the other three students who'd had to be equipped with handballs. It was quite different for the rest of the children, especially the volleyballers, though. With soft bumping sounds the balls dropped from their hands and rolled away causing surprised and angry exclamations and one loud bang as a frustrated West Hogsmeade boy kicked his ball against the wall.

The ball immediately took revenge by bouncing back against his other leg and rolling away forcing him to chase it almost through the entire room.

The Volleyball teacher bent down and caught it elegantly.

"Please remember that this is a volleyball, not a soccer ball, Davy." she remarked as she threw it back to the boy. "It's not meant to be kicked."

The class laughed and a few more balls dropped causing more students to chase after them and collide with each other.

All in all they didn't learn much that day, but they had a lot of fun and Dinah was eagerly looking forward to the next lesson when she returned to the changing room.

"Danny, you're transferred to Volleyball group two." the Volleyball teacher said as they ran out. "Please be here on Thursday instead of Friday next week."

Danny stopped short and almost caused a collision as the boy behind her had to stop abruptly. "But what about Tullia? We wanted to play together!"

The teacher hesitated for a moment and gave Tullia a measuring glance, but then shook her head. "It wouldn't work. You're very tall for your age, so, if you can jump very well I think it will be okay, but Tullia just wouldn't be able to reach as high as the rest of group two. The taller players would always snatch her balls away."

Danny and Tullia trudged to the West Hogsmeade lunchroom looking very depressed and not fitting in with bouncy, happy Dinah at all. Dinah did in fact do her very best not to seem too happy in the face of her friends' misery, but she just couldn't stop herself. She was having such a perfect evening!

"Oh come on!" she tried to cheer them up. "I'm sure it won't be that bad. It's your chance to make some new friends outside of our class, maybe really get to know the Hogsmeade students. And there's always next year. You'll definitely have grown a bit until then."

"But so will Danny." Tullia reminded her. "They'll probably just turn her group into number three and mine into number two."

"Then they'd have to get twelve new players out of next year's first years." Dinah pointed out.

"There are thirteen first years this year." Tullia stated. "Hey, what is that?"

She'd just received her food and was sure she'd never seen anything like it before.

"An omelette." Danny stated rather patronisingly. "With cheese, bacon and mushrooms."

"Looks good." confirmed Dinah. "Go ahead and try it, Tullia. I'm sure you'll like it."

Tullia was indeed quite positively surprised and once she got over her first fear her omelette disappeared in record time. Soon she was pulling out ink and parchment and started on her Latin homework.

Dinah stared at her. "You brought homework?"

"I've only got a little over an hour to wait until Math." Tullia explained. "And it's just not worth going back to Hogwarts, so I thought I'd just stay and do some homework until then."

"But won't Mr. Filch miss you on his list, if you don't go back?" Dinah worried.

"Not if you tell him that I'm staying." Tullia declared. "Lepi? Whatever is a lepi?"

"Uh ... plural of lepus?" Dinah suggested.

"Well, what's a lepus then?" Tullia amended.

Latin was the only subject where she really felt that English wasn't her first language. She was almost bilingual and had started to learn it when she'd been only four, but Mermish had always been her preference when talking to people who knew both and it did result in a smaller English vocabulary than her friends had. It never showed in day to day conversation, but the weird grammatical terms and some of the more obscure words used in Latin class went right over her head.

"Hare." a girl from the Basketball class told her.

Tullia raised one hand to her head. "My hair? What about it?"

"No, not your hair." the girl laughed. "Hare, the animal. That's what lepus means."

Tullia looked no wiser than before.

"Oh, those things!" Danny exclaimed, though. "But why do they write about hares instead of rabbits?"

The girl shrugged. "They always use lepus in Latin. Maybe they don't have rabbits in Italy and the Romans never needed a word for them."

"What is a hare?" Tullia asked. "And why is it golden?"

"A very big rabbit that's not quite a rabbit even though it looks like one." Danny explained.

"What do you mean golden?" Dinah asked. Golden hares sounded weird and she almost wished she'd done the translation already so she could tell Tullia whether it was correct.

"Well, it says aura lepi." Tullia declared. "And aurum is gold, isn't it?"

Dinah nodded.

"So aura lepi must be golden hares." Tullia concluded.

"But wasn't it obulus aureus in class?" Danny asked.

"And -a is the feminine singular ending." Dinah added. "While -us is masculine and -i is the masculine plural."

The older girl laughed again. "Well, here are two tips for you: That aura is not related to aurum and lepi isn't the plural in this case."

Tullia scrunched up her nose and stared at the parchment.

"Then it must be the genitive singular." Dinah decided.

Unfortunately Tullia had very little idea what exactly a genitive was and it didn't help her with the aura at all, but she didn't dare admit it. Maybe she could get it out of Danny or Dinah by asking some other question?

But it was too late for that. The Hogwarts students were already leaving and Danny and Dinah jumped up hastily to run after them waving a quick good bye at Tullia.

Aura. What could aura be, if it had nothing to do with gold?

Soon the lunch hall was entirely empty and finally a cook approached Tullia to tell her that they were about to lock up the room for the night.

"Oh!" Tullia hadn't realised that unlike Hogwarts' great hall the West Hogsmeade lunch room and kitchen were only open during mealtimes. "Is there anywhere else I can stay for an hour and do my homework?"

The cook shrugged indicating that she didn't care, but her younger companion proved to be more helpful.

"You could go up to the library." he suggested. "It's still open, I think, and you can do research there as well."

Even with his directions the library proved hard to find, but at least Tullia had enough time left to hunt down a Latin dictionary and look up the word aura. Luckily it wasn't even any obscure form.

Math was taught in the Arithmancy classroom to which Tullia asked directions from the librarian. Remembering her long search for the library she left early, but this time the directions were much easier to follow and she was the very first student outside the classroom. She tried the door, but it was still locked forcing her to wait in the corridor.

She spent a few minutes just looking at all the doors. Each one was different and almost all of them decorated nicely. The most beautiful was a teacher's office which was decorated with lots of colourful lines and swirls. Trying to follow each of them with her eyes kept Tullia entertained until the first West Hogsmeade students arrived.

When three boys in green robes stopped outside the Arithmancy classroom Tullia stopped her exploration of the hallway and returned there as well.

"Hi." she greeted them feeling a little unsure of herself. "Are you here for Math class as well?"

The boy she'd addressed nodded apparently equally insecure.

"Shouldn't you guys arrive as a group later?" the one to his right asked.

"I had Volleyball before dinner." Tullia explained. "It didn't seem worth going back. I'm Tullia, by the way." She held out her hand to the speaker.

"Marvin." the boy took her hand a little hesitantly. "And they're Dagger and Bert."

"Dagger?" Tullia gulped.

"It's just a nickname." Dagger allowed.

"His Mum stuck him with Heathcliff." Bert elaborated.

Dagger glared daggers at him.

"You could go by Cliff for the Lady's sake." Marvin teased.

"I'm not a Lady." Tullia protested.

"You act like one, though." Marvin returned.

"I don't! . . . Do I?" Suddenly she wasn't sure anymore. She thought she knew wizarding culture well enough, but maybe the manners her mother had taught her were a little old fashioned after all? "I'm much better with Mermish customs."

"You're Mermish?" Dagger seemed interested.

"Part." Tullia admitted. "More witch than mermaid, actually, but I grew up with their culture and language."

"Is it true that Merpeople ride on dolphins?" Dagger asked eagerly.

"Oh no." Tullia laughed. "That's the Seapeople. Dolphins live only in the sea and Merpeople live in lakes. We do ride large fish when playing underwater-polo, though."

"Underwater-polo?" Dagger beamed at her. "That sounds cool."

"It is." Tullia confirmed happily. "It's the coolest game ever."

Tullia hardly noticed the arrival of several more West Hogsmeade students while she described her favourite sport to Dagger.

Their Math teacher turned out to be a tall wizard in jeans and a striped jumper. One Gryffindor even whispered to her friend that he had to be a Muggle, but then he pulled out a wand and closed the door with a spell.

"The lock's broken." he explained when he noticed the incredulous stares. "If you close it by hand it won't stay closed unless you lock the door entirely and I didn't think you'd appreciate being locked in."

The class laughed a little nervously. It seemed even most of the West Hogsmeade students weren't familiar with this teacher.

"So," the wizard continued with a smile. "As you probably know, this class is called Mathematics junior, but if you take a look around you, you will notice that we have students from almost every year here. The reason for that is simple. I don't like teaching advanced students and beginners at the same time. I can either teach basics, that the advanced students already know, or I can do more advanced stuff, that beginners won't understand. With both groups in one class I have to alternate between the two which reduces the time I can dedicate to each group. Hence this is actually Mathematics, the basics and Mathematics senior is for the more advanced students, no matter how old they are."

He smiled at the class, walked around his desk and sat on top of it.

"So, none of you have had Mathematics before. The next thing we need to figure out is why you are here. What are your expectations of this class, what things should we look into more deeply this year, where will a short overview suffice? In general Mathematics are very important. They are in fact a basic survival skill in the Muggle world. In the wizarding world they are useful, but not as much of a necessity." he paused to look at each of his students for a moment.

"It's clear then why Mathematics is a must for Squibs and why I have quite a number of them in my advanced class. You however are all wizards and witches, so there must be very specific reasons for your choice to learn Mathematics." he continued. "Who of you is really here for the love of Mathematics itself and planning to continue into the advanced class next year?" he looked around, but the class remained entirely silent.

"Nobody? You know something? I'm not surprised. It's a difficult subject and why should you love something you don't even know. Maybe, though, if I ask you again at the end of the year, your answer will be different. Maybe I can teach just some of you to love Mathematics. I'd definitely like to try. For now, though, who of you is here, because they're considering a career in or in close contact with the Muggle world and want to be prepared?"

This time there was a reaction. Three hands rose into the air.

"Ah yes," the teacher smiled. "Unsurprisingly most of our oldest students who're already at a point in their lives where they ought to very seriously consider job options. So," he nodded at a tall boy. "Tell us your name and plans."

"Well ..." the boy seemed a little embarrassed. "My name's Evan and I ... Well, I'm not a particularly talented wizard. Neither are my parents and both of them have a hard time finding jobs in the wizarding world. They're simply not very qualified. So, I thought, that maybe ... well, maybe I'd have a better chance at a Muggle job. Nothing much, just a steady job, really."

"That's a very good idea, Evan, and very mature of you." the teacher praised. "And by finishing your wizarding education anyway you're not really closing the door on a possible wizarding job either. You are simply widening your options."

"Megan." said the second student, a girl wearing a Ravenclaw badge. "My father is a Muggle and runs a small company. As his only child I will inherit that someday and, if I don't want to just sell his life's work, I will need to know bookkeeping and how to calculate prices."

"Ah, now that's a very concrete goal." the teacher declared. "You will not find much use in the more scientific and playful forms of Mathematics, but require very specific practical abilities. In fact, the same things might prove useful for Evan as well. Good bookkeepers are much appreciated by Muggles and accordingly well paid. A good knowledge of bookkeeping enables one to run ones own business as well as to work for all sorts of enterprises and it's at the very least useful in private life, if you want to watch your expenses."

"George." said the third boy. "I'm very interested in Muggles and would like to study them more closely, maybe work in a Muggle relations office someday."

"Then you'd most likely want a general overview of Mathematics and its different directions rather than practical skills." the teacher agreed. "Muggle relations are a promising career as well, as few wizards have a sufficient knowledge of Muggle cultures and contact with Muggles is becoming harder and harder to avoid completely. . . . Next group then. Who of you is here, simply out of curiosity about the subject?"

Two hands went up. Tullia recognised Gabriella Atlas from Ravenclaw and the other was a seventh year Slytherin. The teacher nodded at the boy.

"Antonius." he introduced himself. "I'm from an old wizarding family and regrettably didn't think to take Muggle Studies in my third year, so I know very little about Muggles. I just thought that the Muggle subjects sounded interesting, but only Math and French were an option to me as the others require a year of Math first and this is already my last year. It can't hurt to give it a try, though."

"Gabriella." the Ravenclaw stated with a shrug. "Notoriously curious."

"You will both find that Mathematics are very fun for curios people as they provide a way to figure out all sorts of obscure facts." the teacher said apparently not bothered by the lack of a good reason for taking his class. "And who of you is here to prepare for Physics class next year?"

Five hands rose into the air, all of them West Hogsmeade students and judging by their height mostly third or fourth years. The teacher only asked them to state their names, not to give any reasons for their interest in Physics.

"Physics is another subject for curious people." he explained afterwards. "It explains a lot about how the non-magical world works and allows us a look into how the Muggles' machines work. You George might find it helpful in your planned career as well, so at least consider the option of taking it. . . . That leaves ten more students then." he smiled widely. "Would any of you perhaps want to continue into Chemistry class?"

Tullia happily noted that Dagger and his two friends raised their hands along with her. Clearly she wouldn't be alone in Chemistry class next year. She also made sure to remember the names of the four other students who wanted to learn Chemistry: Pete, Liane, Xin and Dan. Maybe it would be good to make an effort to get to know them.

She did seem to be the only Hogwarts student interested in Chemistry, but if she knew that many classmates anyway that shouldn't become a problem and she'd catch up to Billy once she started Alchemy in third year.

The teacher looked at them oddly for a moment.

"I must admit, I'm stumped." he said finally. "I've stated all the usual reasons for students to pick this subject and there are still two people left over. This has never happened to me before, so please help me out: What are your names and why are you here?"

"I'm Jean White and I'm here, because of my stupid Muggle parents." the rather well rounded Gryffindor girl answered. "They've always complained that I wasn't learning anything 'real' at Hogwarts and it's been a struggle to convince them every year. I'm hoping that learning Math will prevent them from transferring me to Muggle high school."

"Alex." said Alex Vaxhall. "It was my parents' stipulation for allowing me to go to Hogwarts. They'd already declined the offer, because it didn't offer a proper education, but then Professor McGonagall sent another owl with the list of additional elective and club offers and they said, if I promised to take Math, Physics, Chemistry and French, I could go."

"Your parents chose your electives for you?" Marvin gasped.

"They're forcing you to take four additional subjects?" George asked incredulously.

"Well, only one this year." Alex amended. "I have to add Physics in second year, then take French as an elective in third year and add Chemistry in fourth and they'll decide whether I have to take Psychology after that."

"That is quite a workload." the teacher said sounding slightly worried. "I'd never have thought that Muggles would do such a thing to their children."

"They just don't understand the worth of a magical education." Jean tried to explain. "They don't see any job options at the end of it, so they want their children to have qualifications they can understand."

"Well, if there's no way around it, I suggest that you take both Mathematics and French as electives in third year." the teacher decided. "It takes away all your choices, but you have to take two electives and that reduces the number of subjects."

Alex nodded sadly. "I really wanted to take Art, though." he sighed.

 

At about the same time that Tullia's Math class started Gangolf stood in the dark boys' changing room and wondered how to get the lights to work. It seemed that he was the only boy in Ballet class and therefore the only person expected to change here.

Unfortunately he'd never before heard of a light switch and the only thing he could think of to do was wave his wand around and look for candles or an oil lamp. He never connected the strange white tube on the ceiling with his problem at all, much less the tiny white square next to the door.

Instead he finally decided to change in the dark. He knew his clothes well, after all and could probably feel his way into them in complete darkness. The little light that was in the room would be more than enough.

Still it took longer than usual and when he finally knocked politely on the girls' changing room there was nobody there to hear it anymore. After waiting for about a minute Gangolf carefully opened the door a crack and peered in, ready to slam it shut again the moment he caught sight of any half dressed girls.

The room was empty, however, and Gangolf found it safe to go in. This wasn't all that different from Sports class, so he wasn't afraid to open the door to the gym.

A very tall witch - or did she just seem that tall, due to being very slim and wearing tights? Gangolf's mother had told him about such appearance tricks. - smiled at him kindly.

"So, you must be Gangolf then." she stated. "Come on in."

The room was full of girls most of whom were wearing tights just like their teacher, but surprisingly no tutus and very little pink and white. Gangolf took one look around and decided to sit down next to Barbara. Most of the faces were unfamiliar, so probably West Hogsmeade students!

"I'm Charlie." the teacher introduced herself. "And I took this class myself as a student. In this very room."

The West Hogsmeade girls beamed at her proudly. Gangolf felt a little uneasy. So the teacher was a dangerous West Hogsmeade student herself?

"After school I danced professionally for a while, but stopped and came back here to teach when I got married." Charlie continued.

A small girl with a pink ribbon in her hair raised her hand.

"Yes Angie?" Charlie already knew her name.

"Why did you stop?" the girl asked surprising Gangolf with her strong confident voice. "Why give up such a dream job?"

"Because," Charlie said. "It's also a very hard job and involves a lot of travelling. When I married my husband I had to make a choice to either continue dancing, or be with him. I love Matt and I knew I wanted to have children and when a friend told me my old teacher was retiring and the school looking for a replacement I saw my chance."

"And do you have children?" an older girl asked.

Charlie beamed. "Yes, I have a baby daughter named Maggy and in a year or two I'm hoping to give her a little brother or sister. Matt and I would really like to have both a boy and a girl."

"So, if you get another girl, will you give her up for adoption?" Barbara burst out.

"Of course not!" Charlie looked scandalised. "She'd be my baby! I might decide to have a third child in that case, though."

"And a fourth, if it turns out to be another girl?" Gangolf grinned.

"No, I don't think so." Charlie shook her head a little sadly. "I'm not sure we even have enough room for three children in our flat. Four would definitely be too much. I want my children to have a happy, relatively carefree childhood. Two really would be the perfect number for us."

"Will you bring Maggy to class someday?" somebody called. "So we can see her?"

"Yes, please!" another girl cooed. "I love babies!"

"Maybe." Charlie promised. "When she's a little older and can take all the excitement. Lets get back to ballet, though. I'd like to know, whether any of the new students have had lessons before."

One girl raised her hand.

"You, Ramona?"

What a weird name, Gangolf thought.

"My grandmother taught me some steps." Ramona had a hard foreign accent. Gangolf moved away from her slightly. You never knew with foreigners. "She used to dance professionally as well."

"I learned a little from my sister." a girl called Katie said. "But I'm not sure she's any good as a teacher."

"Then we'll just keep you with the beginners now and see how you do." Charlie assured her. "If it turns out you're already up to dancing with the second years, we can always send you over later on. For now, lets get up and start with some warm up and stretching exercises."

 

A/N: Anybody want to guess at the aura lepi problem? Why did Barbara think that Charlie would give up a daughter? And will the Gryffindors ever leave Billy alone?

 

In the next chapter: The Riddles club I promised for this chapter, Colleen finally gets mail and Barbara gets into trouble.


	17. Colleen's Troubles

Chapter 17: Colleen's Troubles

 

The Riddles club was held at Hogwarts, though in a part of the castle the Slytherin first years hadn't yet been to. It was a good thing Pank had thought to ask Professor Snape for directions.

To their surprise he and Rupert found their classmates all staring at sheets of parchment on their desks and the teacher that Gangolf liked so much sitting at the teacher's desk smiling cryptically.

"Good evening, Professor." Pank greeted him, but the teacher completely ignored him!

"We think we have to figure out these before he'll talk to us." a Ravenclaw girl explained to them holding up her parchment. "They seem empty at first glance, but if you tap your wand at one and state your name a riddle shows up, but you're the only one who can see it and you can only open one."

Pank accordingly pulled out his wand, pointed it at the next parchment and stated "Pank.". Nothing happened.

"I think she meant your whole name." Rupert remarked. "Rupert Lennox."

And indeed it seemed like he saw something on his parchment now.

"Pakratius Anterhill." Pank tried again thinking that he sounded silly, but indeed something showed up on the parchment.

It was a strange little puzzle with numbers that looked easy at first, but turned out to be rather frustrating once you had filled in most of the numbers and the last ones wouldn't fit.

"Ha, I've got it!" a girl somewhere in the back yelled in triumph. "It's changing! . . . H? Whatever does h mean?"

But meanwhile an even bigger problem had come up. The West Hogsmeade group contained three Squibs who didn't even have wands. How were they supposed to unlock their riddles?

A Hufflepuff third year offered to open them for them, but when she pointed her wand at the parchment and said the first Squib's name nothing happened.

"We've tried using somebody else's name before." a boy offered. "It doesn't work. You have to do it yourself."

"But Squibs can't use a wand." the Hufflepuff reminded him. "They won't be able to activate the spell."

"I'm Jesse Bennet." one of the Squibs declared pressing his hand onto one of the parchments. "There it is! It doesn't need a wand."

"But that's impossible." the Hufflepuff protested.

"No it isn't." a Ravenclaw informed her in a slightly superior tone. "The spell must already have been active. It was just waiting for the right words."

"But then why didn't it react when I said them?" the Hufflepuff challenged.

"Maybe because it wasn't true." Jesse Bennet suggested. "Maybe it has an inbuilt lie detecting charm."

"How would you know anything about charms?" sneered a second year whose name Pank didn't know.

"From Magical Theory, of course." Jesse stuck his tongue out at him. "I bet I know the names and functions of more charms than you can perform."

"Pah, a filthy little squib like you!" the second year snorted.

"Watch it." Jesse threatened. "I also bet I'm stronger than you and Ally is definitely bigger."

The second year and the Ravenclaw glared at Jesse. Three more West Hogsmeade students stepped closer to their friend and glared back.

Pank didn't like those odds. He cast a hopeful glance towards the Professor, but the wizard was still sitting in his chair ignoring them entirely. Maybe he wasn't even their teacher?

"Stop it." he told the arguing students. "You're not supposed to act like that in class. Get back to your work."

"And who're you to boss us around?" the tallest West Hogsmeade student, most likely Ally Pank assumed, demanded.

"Yeah, little first years shouldn't get cheeky with their elders." the second year added and suddenly everybody was glaring at Pank.

"He only meant to say that it doesn't really matter how the spell works, but that we should get back to solving our riddle." Rupert stepped in. "Who knows this might be a test to see whether we're really fit for this class. Those who don't solve their puzzle might get kicked out."

A moment of silence followed that announcement and then the class hastily returned to their parchments. Rupert smirked and went back to work as well.

"Do you really think that?" Pank had gone a little pale.

"Of course not." Rupert whispered. "But it worked, didn't it?"

"Worked?" Pank asked.

"It got them to leave you alone and continue working." Rupert pointed out.

"Ah, I think I've got it." he said moments later. "Five, three and one . . . and . . . m."

"M?" Pank asked.

"Yes, m." Rupert confirmed. "What's your result?"

"Haven't got one, yet." Pank admitted.

"Oh well, hurry up then." Rupert urged. "I want to know what it all means."

Several students had their results by now and were running around comparing letters. If Pank didn't want to be last he had to hurry.

"A" he heard a girl's voice say. "What do you have, Jesse?"

"N." Jesse reported. "Hey, is your letter bigger than mine?"

"I don't think so." the girl said. "Look, if you put them next to each other . . ."

A hissing sound interrupted her and Pank jumped.

"What happened?" somebody asked.

"Our parchments fused together." Jesse said wonderingly. "It says an now."

"An?" someone else said. "Whatever does an mean?"

"What did you do?" the Ravenclaw demanded.

"Just hold them together." the girl said grabbing Ally's parchment. "Like this, see?"

But this time nothing happened when she held the parchment up to the fused one.

"Maybe they go in a particular order." another Ravenclaw suggested. "Try mine."

It took several attempts, but then an i fused to the an. "Ian?"

"That can't be all." the Hufflepuff girl declared. "Everybody, hold your parchments together."

Soon there were several more hisses and Rupert beamed triumphantly when his m fused with the second Ravenclaw's a. After a while no more hisses would come, though and there were still several pieces of parchment, some longer than others.

"Who's still working on their riddles?" the first Ravenclaw demanded.

Pank and two others raised their hands.

"Well, hurry up!"

And finally, with a lot of help from Rupert, Pank managed to put all the numbers in correctly and the puzzle dissolved and formed into an r.

"Finally!" Rupert's Ravenclaw partner exclaimed. "Try it! Quickly!"

But the r didn't want to stick to the am, neither in front nor at the end. It didn't like the Hufflepuff's i either, nor what had meanwhile turned into lian.

It finally attached itself to a ha and then a ker turning the whole thing into harker.

Another student's u, stuck to a j and the last one, an f, picked a left over pro.

"Wait a minute!" Pank exclaimed. "Ju and lian? Julian!" Wasn't that what Professor Hooch had called the teacher at the desk?

And indeed the two fragments fused into Julian, but then nothing worked anymore. Even though they tried all the ends, they wouldn't stick together.

"Maybe it's just words." Jesse finally suggested. "And the i doesn't fuse with anything, because it is already a whole word."

"But what kind of word is Harker?" somebody asked.

Jesse smirked at them. "I" he said pointing at the Hufflepuff. "Am." Rupert and the Ravenclaw. "Prof Julian Harker."

For a moment Pank just gaped at him. Of course! Why that cheeky little Squib!

"Good evening, Professor Harker?" the Hufflepuff said experimentally.

"Good evening, Ms. Ronaldson." the teacher returned smiling widely.

 

Gangolf was sitting in the great hall watching a heated game of exploding snap. Aterus had even invited him to join in, but Gangolf had wisely declined. That game was dangerous!

As if to prove his point another explosion went off almost singeing Jon's eyebrows.

"Boom!" Jorge laughed. "You lose."

"Big boom." Jon confirmed laughing as well. "Your turn, Danny."

Gangolf definitely couldn't understand how he could still laugh after such a close call.

"Gangolf?" Barbara stood behind him all of a sudden. "Could I perhaps . . . sit with you guys for a while? Just to watch?"

"Sure." Gangolf beamed. He really enjoyed talking to Barbara. She was the only one who never ignored him or scared him. "Come here."

He pulled out a chair for her and she sat down gladly.

"Are the Gryffindors giving you trouble again?" Mel asked in an almost motherly tone while the Slytherins at the table frowned at her.

"Oh no," Barbara said hurriedly. "They just . . ."

"They're still ignoring you, aren't they." Cam guessed. "Don't deny it. I can see how you're always sitting by yourself. They never reserve you a chair with your own year."

"I'm just not very close with them." Barbara claimed. "I don't really care much for Quidditch, you know and it seems that's all they ever talk about. Gangolf and I simply share more of our interests, so we have more to talk about."

"Sure." It was clear that Cam didn't believe her.

"Gangolf not share interest with Slytherins." Jorge observed. "But Slytherins always reserve chair. Gryffindors not nice to Barbara."

Jon nodded in confirmation. "We see how they treat you, Barbara, and we want to help, but you have to let us."

"We've tried talking to your classmates." Mel added. "But I don't think they got our point. I'm sure they don't mean to be so thoughtless, but they're so superficial. They just don't see how much they're hurting you."

"We can't change what housemates you have." Cam continued pushing aside her cards. "But we can be your friends, too, if you want us. Gangolf doesn't have to be your only friend."

"They don't like Slytherins much." Barbara sighed. "I don't understand why they're so prejudiced."

"Your parents weren't in Gryffindor, were they?" Cam asked.

"No . . . yes." Barbara stuttered. "Well . . . You see, the sorting hat said they were Gryffindors, but it must have meant my real parents."

"Your real parents?" Gangolf asked confused. "You mean you have false parents, too?"

"No, of course not." Barbara shook her head. "Of course they're all real parents. It's just that I have two sets and it gets a little confusing sometimes. I'm adopted, you see."

"So your birth parents were Gryffindors and your adoptive parents weren't?" Mel tried to help her out when Barbara just stared at the table looking miserable. "And they're the ones who raised you?"

Barbara nodded.

"Have your first parents been dead long?" Danny asked sounding almost kind for once.

Barbara shook her head and a small sob escaped her. Gangolf gently took one of her clenched hands into his.

"They're not dead." Barbara forced out. "They . . . well, maybe my father is."

"Maybe?" Gangolf asked. "You mean, they didn't even tell you?"

"My parents don't know either." Barbara explained. "All they were told is that my mother was only sixteen when I was born and too young to keep me. So her parents took me to the ministry's adoption agency and my parents were on top of the waiting list for new babies, so they owled them and my Mum apparated right over and took me home to Dad the same day I was born."

"Oh, that's a wonderful tale!" Mel exclaimed to Gangolf's surprise.

"Wonderful?" he asked. "What's so wonderful about not knowing who your parents are?"

"But Barbara does know who her parents are." Mel insisted. "Don't you see. Her real parents are of course the people who wanted her so much they were willing to drop everything on a moment's notice to get her as fast as possible. Did you know that it takes years to get to the top of that list? Wizarding babies aren't adopted out that often and usually there's already somebody else there who's related to the birth parents, or knows them, or simply buys their way to the top. Just imagine how happy your parents must have been when they could finally hold their daughter for the first time. I mean, biological parents wait nine months for their baby, adoptive parents sometimes have to wait nine years."

"Yes, and anyway, if they've raised you from the very first day, that's about as real as parents can get." added Cam.

"Draco was fifteen when our parents adopted him." Billy commented casually without looking up from the cards. "And Mum and Dad are still his real parents. What else would they be?"

"Your brother's adopted?" Danny gaped at him.

"Yes." Billy said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "Why not? Lots of people are. Draco's official, though, just like Barbara. With adoption papers and everything. That's why he's even got our name. Most adopted people I know, just live with their parents and have the name of their first parents, or parent. Those are unofficial, then. They just moved into a new family someday and even then, that's still their real family."

"How can it be real, if they don't even have their name?" Barbara asked no longer sobbing.

"Well, it's where they live, isn't it? They go home to their family every day, their family feeds and clothes them, their parents tuck them in at night and hold them when they cry. Real parents are the people who love you and care for you, not names on a piece of paper."

"That's wise." Jon commented. "Who taught you that?"

Billy shrugged. "Oh, everybody says so. Haven't you ever heard it?"

"Must be another West Hogsmeade thing." Danny decided. "Billy grew up there." she explained to Barbara. "They're like a completely different culture sometimes. Like Tullia's Merpeople."

"Barbara play with us?" Jorge suggested.

"Careful." Gangolf warned his friend. "Don't get burned."

Barbara smiled at him. "Thank you, Jorge, but I think I'd rather just watch and chat with Gangolf."

 

And then finally, one morning four weeks into the school year Colleen's owl swooped into the great hall with a letter tied to her leg.

"Shadowlady!" Colleen exclaimed happily. "Oh, good girl. Here, have some ham."

"Shadowlady?" Pank asked eyeing the owl critically. "She doesn't look much like a Shadowlady."

"Well, I was only nine when I got her." Colleen shrugged. "She seemed like a Shadowlady to me then and she likes the name."

She untied the ribbon carefully and then spread the parchment out before her to read in the dignified manner of a proper lady. Still the smile on her face soon faltered and she sat staring at the paper.

"Colleen?" Dinah asked when it became clear that she wasn't really reading anymore. "Colleen? Is something wrong?"

Colleen finally looked up, face pale and eyes wide. "My brother." she whispered. "Phelippe's really sick. His heart. . . . I . . . I knew he wasn't eating well when I left, but I never thought it'd be anything serious. I . . . I never even thought about it after I arrived."

"Well, of course you didn't." Dinah tried to console her. "Just because he didn't have much of an appetite. Little children get sick all the time and it's cold season. Who'd expect anything worse when the child's still happily playing and talking and not complaining of any pain?"

"Don't worry, Colleen." Anny said. "I'm sure with all those wonderful potions wizard doctors have Phelippe will be fine soon."

"We can tell my Dad." Billy suggested. "And ask him to send our raven home to my Mum. She's been brewing medical potions for years. I'm sure she knows just the right one."

"Don't you think they have medical potions at St. Mungo's?" Colleen yelled tears shining in her eyes. "If there were a potion to cure Phelippe, don't you think they'd have given him that long ago?"

She jumped up and ran from the hall and even though both the girls and Professor Snape ran after her right away, she had already disappeared. When Anny and Dinah didn't find her in the dorm either Pank decided to organise a search that even included Danny.

Surprisingly Gangolf didn't hesitate to offer his help, though all he managed to do was get lost and wind up in the kitchens where Mr. Filch found him. Luckily Filch had already heard about the search from Dinah and though he couldn't be convinced of Gangolf's bad sense of orientation, he allowed that it wasn't completely impossible that Colleen might have been hiding in the kitchens.

He then ordered the Slytherins to abandon their search as it was almost time for their first class of the day and even promised to inform the house elves that a distraught student was wandering the castle. He couldn't condone any house elves abandoning their assigned duties in order to search for Colleen, but would permit them to take the time to either lead her to a teacher, or alert him, should they happen to see her.

"The elves will be cleaning all over the castle, so sooner or later she will run into one of them." he assured Dinah. "And I promise I'll take her to the headmaster right away."

"The headmaster!" Pank gasped. "Oh, but we don't want her to get into trouble."

"Please Mr. Filch," Dinah begged. "If Colleen is skipping class, it's only because she's so worried about her sick brother. I'm sure in her state she simply isn't thinking about the time."

Filch sighed. "I'll take her to the headmaster, because he doesn't have a class to teach and can give her permission to skip a day of school, if she needs it. Professor Dumbledore really has a very soft heart and is much better at consoling children than I am. Now hurry off, before I have to take points off you for being in the corridors during class time.

Professor Binns was in a particularly distracted state that day, so he never noticed he was missing a student, though that probably had something to do with Tullia having the presence of mind to call 'here' when the ghost asked for "Naither, Calliope."

"Well, Calliope does have a double l just like Tullia." she defended herself when Danny shot her an angry glare. "He could have meant me."

Colleen finally reappeared during lunch when Professor Snape led her into the great hall. Rumour had it that over at the Gryffindor table the fifth years were celebrating the unprecedented occasion of being let out of Potions class over an hour early and with minimal extra homework.

"He promised to owl my parents and arrange for me to visit Phelippe in St. Mungo's on a Sunday." Colleen reported in a soft, still very subdued voice. "That way I can see him and wish him well without missing any classes. Just in case he doesn't feel up to reading a long owl, you know."

"Of course." Dinah nodded at her. "At his age reading's still hard work and he'll probably be bored at the hospital. He'll be very happy to have a chance to talk to you."

 

The next morning finally brought the long awaited official schedule for Gymnastics junior. It was once again to take place on Fridays one hour before dinner, but had been moved to a hastily adapted Hogwarts classroom.

"With a few more changes over the summer we might even be able to turn it into a fully functional gym." Dumbledore announced happily. "Which will help with the rather difficult scheduling of Sports classes."

Danny was a little disappointed once she saw the room, though. It contained only the most essential equipment and the stone floor had been covered with old rugs to protect the students from injuries should they fall.

"There are fixing charms on the rugs, so they won't slip away under your feet." Mara assured her class, but still the ground was uneven wherever two rugs overlapped and more than one student tripped while concentrating on a difficult exercise that didn't allow them the time to watch their steps.

 

On Saturday Barbara wordlessly slipped into Gangolf's empty chair at breakfast sporting a black eye and a torn sleeve.

"Gangolf said, I can sit with you, if I can't sit with my house." she explained when she noticed the hostile glares directed at her. "And Professor McGonagall said to avoid my housemates today."

"Gangolf isn't here today, though." Danny returned coldly.

"He often skips breakfast." Billy added a little more kindly.

"You shouldn't sit here." Pank decided. "This is for Slytherins."

"What happened to you?" Dinah asked her Hufflepuff upbringing showing through once again. "Your robe's ruined."

Barbara glanced at her sleeve. "Oh, that's not as bad as it looks. My mother taught me a great sewing charm, but it takes time and my other robe's in the laundry right now, so I can't change. I'll repair it in the evening."

"And what happened to your eye?" Aterus asked.

"Oh, is there a bruise?" Barbara's hand shot to her eye and she winced at the contact. "It's nothing really, I just got into a fight with an older housemate. You know, the kind of things that happen all the time."

The Slytherins exchanged surprised looks.

"You mean that Gryffindors beat up younger girls all the time?" Colleen asked incredulously. "Don't they have any manners?"

"Caligula's taken a few punches at Gangolf as well." Billy reminded her.

"Gangolf's a boy." Colleen pointed out. "Boys get into fights sometimes."

"Caligula's very hot tempered." Danny commented. "And Gangolf has a talent for saying the wrong things. Caligula's friends always stop him after the first punch, though. That," she nodded at Barbara. "Looks like more than one punch."

"It was just one of the second years." Barbara explained. "They approached me when I came down to the common room this morning and asked me to stop talking to Gangolf. I told them no, Gangolf's my friend and Steve got angry and started shaking me. He didn't even hit me in the face. The bruise is just because I hit the back of a chair when I fell and Steve tried to pull me back away from the chair by my sleeve, but the cloth wasn't strong enough and ripped."

"They hit you, just because you're friends with Gangolf?" Anny couldn't believe it.

Barbara winced again. "It's not like that. They're just worried about me." she defended her housemates. "And emotions have been building up for a while over it. You see, some of the older students keep saying that Slytherins are evil and practise the dark arts and a lot of the younger students look up to them and believe everything they say. So they keep telling me that Gangolf must be evil, because he's a Slytherin and I keep telling them that I know Gangolf and he wouldn't harm a fly. At first they said Gangolf was deceiving me. Someone even suggested that he has me under imperius, but the older students said eleven year olds aren't strong enough for that, so most of the higher years leave me alone now. After that I thought everything was okay, but then Laura started calling me a traitor and suddenly there were accusations that I was spying on them and telling their secrets to you." she shrugged. "Seems like some of them think they have secrets that would actually interest you."

"And you think it's wise of you to sit here of all places?" Danny sneered.

"Look." said Pank. "We don't like Gryffindors any more than they like us. We're not at all happy with Gangolf's friendship with you either and we most certainly don't want a Gryffindor at our table."

"We're not common brutes, like you Gryffindors, though." Colleen threw in. "So we won't harm either you or Gangolf."

"But," Pank continued. "We do not want you at our table and suggest that you leave."

"I'm sure the Hufflepuffs will be able to make room for you and it'll look better to the Gryffindors when they see you there." Dinah looked rather uncomfortable. "Huflepuff is neutral territory and they've offered you friendship before. It's not like you're intruding uninvited."

Barbara nodded mutely and trudged over to the Hufflepuff table where she was immediately placed between Cam and Mel and introduced to at least a half dozen older students.

"I can't believe that the Gryffindors ganged up on one of their own like that." Tullia said. "No other house would ever do that."

"It's been known to happen." Billy contradicted her. "Back when Dad was still a student it was quite common in Slytherin, especially when a student was muggle born or from a Gryffindor family. And a few years ago there was a teachers' meeting about a case in Ravenclaw. A girl had been caught doing something really bad, Dad wouldn't tell me what, and lost Ravenclaw a hundred points. The Ravenclaw prefects held some sort of trial against her for losing points and sentenced her to a punch for each point. She had to be taken to the hospital wing afterwards."

Dinah and Aterus stared at him in horror.

"Do you know what happened to the prefects?" Pank asked.

"Well, Dad wanted them to be expelled, but Professor Flitwick confirmed that a punch for each lost point was an old Ravenclaw tradition and the prefects simply had been irresponsible to execute such a large punishment all in one go. So in the end they only lost their badges and the trials and punishments were officially forbidden."

Anny shuddered. "And they call us evil?"

"That's the Gryffindors, not the Ravenclaws." Tullia pointed out.

"They probably didn't realise that so many punches would hurt the girl so badly." Rupert said. "A lot of children don't know what they're really doing to someone when they hit them."

"Those were prefects, not little children." Anny pointed out. "They had to be at least fifteen."

"But they're all out of school by now anyway." Colleen shrugged it off. "There's nothing like that happening at Hogwarts anymore."

"Are you sure of that?" Danny smirked at her. "Who knows what's going on in Ravenclaw behind the teachers' backs? Or what might be happening in Hufflepuff . . . or Gryffindor." She nodded towards the Hufflepuff table where a seventh year was examining Barbara's black eye. "She thinks it's normal to be ambushed by a bunch of older students. I wonder what else Gryffindors consider normal."

 

When Billy came back after Chemistry class that same day he found Aterus had gone to the library with Colleen of all people.

"They were going to look something up for Aterus' History essay." Dinah told him with a wink.

"I thought he already knew what he was going to write." Billy stated a little surprised. "And why Colleen?"

"Because she knows Anny and I already finished it, you weren't here and Danny and Tullia wouldn't ask her." Dinah said as if that answered everything.

"Your father was hoping that she could visit her brother on the weekend, but her family still hasn't owled him back." Anny explained. "So we've been trying to keep her distracted. On Monday we got Cam to invite her to a French study session, yesterday she had French. Today she's studying with Aterus, tomorrow's her Choir club and on Friday I think there's a Quidditch practise she might like to watch with me."

Aterus and Colleen seemed to hit it off right away. They returned to the common room hours later chatting and laughing. Billy supposed that they had similar backgrounds despite the doubtful ideology of the Nocturnes. Both had rich families and lived in large manor houses without getting out much. Maybe Aterus could understand Colleen even better than Anny and Dinah.

 

Time seemed to fly over the next weeks.

Pank was a little more cautious about what he said to his classmates after Rupert had had to rescue him in Riddles class and found that he got on much better with a lot of people. In fact, once you got used to him Jesse Bennet was actually an alright guy and one of the cleverest people Pank had ever met. The little squib and Rupert were among the top students in Riddles class and soon fell into the habit of working together on their assignments, which left Pank feeling a little left out at times. Try as he may he usually was one of the last students to finish his riddle which meant that the others didn't particularly like working with him.

Jesse accepted him along with Rupert whenever they were working in bigger groups, but when they had to work in pairs Pank usually ended up with the oldest Hufflepuff, a nice girl who was friends with Elton and willing to 'baby-sit' the first year. Unfortunately as a fourth year she usually had harder riddles to solve and Pank rarely could offer her much help.

He soon found that he liked the Soccer club much better. Though most of his fellow players were better with the ball Pit announced him reserve captain of the reserve team which meant that he could expect to become captain next year and had a good chance at making captain of the first team someday.

"You're a good leader." Pit explained when Pank pointed out his less than perfect record. "The others might be better individual players, but they don't pay enough attention to their team mates. Your ball work will improve with practise. Don't forget that most of the others had a head start."

That was right, of course, and to everybody's surprise Pank also discovered that he had another unexpected talent. He was the top student in their Herbology class, even better than Hermy whose mother had practically raised her in the glass house. Pank had no idea why, but he loved gardening and the plants flourished under his care. It seemed almost like he only had to touch a sickly plant to make it look healthier.

Charms on the other hand became his least favourite subject. For some reason he never got his swishs and flicks quite right and despite Professor Flitwick's almost infinite patience Pank's charms remained average at best.

"Don't worry about it." the teacher consoled him when Pank approached him with an apology for his weak performance after class one day. "You might not be a particular talent at Charms, but you can't expect to be perfect at everything. If my class is your worst subject, you should count yourself lucky. I have had much worse students. You're in no danger of failing and if you keep working as hard as you are, you never will be."

Still, his Charms talent was the one thing Pank envied Gangolf. Then again he wouldn't want to be Gangolf for anything in the world.

 

Everyone could see that Gangolf was miserable. He was doing great in both Charms and Transfigurations, but had problems almost everywhere else. His worst subject was still Flying followed closely by Sports where the girls were teasing him mercilessly. Even the usually sweet Dinah declared him hopeless after he managed to fall over the ball during a handball game. Another class he got laughed at in was Latin, even though he wasn't the worst student there. It just seemed that he was always the one who came up with the most ridiculous mistakes.

Classes he really suffered in were Potions and Herbology. Both were full of disgusting things and in Herbology a lot of them were even still alive! On the other hand maybe Potions was worse. There he had to touch dead things and ran the risk of getting hurt in an explosion.

Not that he'd actually been hurt in Potions so far, but Professor Snape had prevented it just in the nick of time on two occasions and even without that he'd been forced to pay five more visits to the hospital wing by the time the Christmas holidays finally rolled around. Three of those he owed to accidents in Flying class, one to Caligula Lestrange slapping him so hard that he bit his tongue, one to a nasty Gryffindor tripping him in class and the last one to falling off a ladder in Sports class.

Even in Ballet some of the girls made fun of his pink tights and when he visited Professor Harker in his office for some consolation after a particularly bad lesson, the kind teacher took the chance to inform him that Professor Hooch was looking into transferring him into the Hufflepuff Flying class in exchange for Cam Weasley.

"Your classmates are all very good flyers." Professor Harker explained. "And so is Cam. I've been told that her family has quite a tradition of excellent Quidditch players. So, Professor Hooch and I thought that maybe we could speed up the Slytherin class a little for those students that are already getting bored with the simple exercises and collect all the weaker flyers in one class that will be moving more slowly."

"And that's the Hufflepuff class?" Gangolf asked.

"Actually it's going to be a mixed class with the weakest students from all the houses." the professor admitted. "We are switching out several students besides Cam. She's just the most talented and therefore the one we're putting in the top class."

When Gangolf returned to the common room with the bad news he found to his disappointment that most of his classmates were delighted to hear it.

"Cam's going to be part of our Flying class?" Colleen exclaimed. "That's wonderful. My favourite Hufflepuff friend!"

"Finally!" Danny joined in. "I was getting so bored with the beginners' exercises."

"Yes, we're the best!" Pank triumphed.

"Finally no more waiting for Gangolf." Anny sighed gratefully.

Only Tullia shared his worries, though what bothered her most was that she hadn't been asked to switch classes as well.

"You're not bad at Flying at all." Danny pointed out to her. "You'd be bored in a class on Gangolf's level."

"I wish they'd put me in an average class, though." Tullia sighed. "With Ravenclaw for example. I'm fine with the current speed of the class."

At least Barbara understood Gangolf and she was even considered for the same Flying class as well. In fact, Barbara was the one good thing he had at Hogwarts.

But even that didn't last. Again and again Barbara showed up with small injuries or confided in Gangolf that the other Gryffindors were teasing her, calling her names or playing pranks on her and she sat with Hufflepuff during most meals now.

Gangolf too had to suffer some pranks from his classmates as well as the Gryffindors. His dormmates limited themselves to occasionally hiding his beauty potions or items of clothing in unusual places, and according to his mother this was to be considered playful and he was expected to laugh along with them, so Gangolf tried hard not to feel insulted. They weren't truly malicious pranks at least and never caused him or his possessions actual damage.

It was harder when the older students played catch with his parchment case in the common room and he almost cried when the Gryffindors broke his flamingo feather quill, but all of that was nothing compared to the stories Barbara told him and he understood very well when she finally told him that she had decided to end their friendship.

"Please understand, Gangolf. I really like you and I'll miss talking and playing with you, but I just can't go on like this. I have to make amends with my house and that will never happen, if I continue to be friendly with Slytherins." she said with tears in her eyes.

Gangolf understood, yes, but he still ran to his secret bathroom hideout and cried for almost an hour. After that the out of the way bathroom became his retreat and he spent most of his spare time there. Once it was a little cleaned up it wasn't all that uncomfortable and the mirrors there were quite good for practising ballet.

 

Dinah on the other hand was perfectly happy. Charms was her best subject as well and she learned some charms even faster than Gangolf. She also loved Potions and the only subject she had a hard time in was History of Magic, which simply bored her out of her mind. Luckily Binns hardly ever asked questions during class and Anny had no qualms about letting her copy answers during tests.

Herbology still bored her as well, but Professor Sprout was more focused on teamwork than theoretical knowledge and Dinah was happy to work with anyone in that class. Most of them she considered her close friends after all.

Her Slytherin side was kept happy by her good grades and her Hufflepuff side by the many friends she'd made. Besides all the first year Slytherins and most of the Hufflepuffs that included two Ravenclaws, a few older Slytherins and Hufflepuffs as well as Mr. Filch and the house elf assigned to cleaning her dorm.

She wasn't overly great at Gymnastics, but it provided a nice balance for all the studying they did in most of the regular classes, was fun and gave her a chance to get to know Danny better, who usually spent all her time with Tullia giving the others few chances to get closer.

 

Rupert was quite happy as well, though Riddles was the only class he really excelled at. He was average everywhere else, which meant that he didn't earn any special praise, but wasn't having problems in any of his classes either.

For the first time in his life he wasn't getting teased and could actually consider himself popular, though. He was the main confidant of Pank who was the most popular Slytherin first year and also admired by many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. He was friends with Jon, the most popular Hufflepuff boy, and proud Jesse, who rarely bothered with Hogwarts students otherwise. People from almost all years and houses greeted him in the corridors and it seemed like his secret would never get out, because nobody here knew.

What more could a young wizard ask for? Hogwarts was great.

 

Colleen too was feeling popular. Not that there were nearly as many people seeking her out as Rupert, Pank or Dinah, but she thought she could call Anny, Dinah and Tullia her friends by now, maybe Aterus as well. They definitely got along well and often compared their homework.

She wasn't sure about Billy, Rupert and Pank, but they didn't seem to dislike her anymore and she couldn't care less about Gangolf's opinion. Danny was annoying, because she had to share her dorm with her, though.

She was also doing well with the Hufflepuffs, in her opinion. Cam even spoke of her as a friend and Lauri occasionally stopped to talk to her as well. And then there was impish little Lucinda Iterton from Ravenclaw who liked to talk about Quidditch with her.

Granted, the last two probably counted as casual acquaintances rather than friends, but to Colleen that was quite a lot of social life.

Yes, her relationships with her fellow students were quite satisfactory to her and so were her results in most classes. She was even top of her History of Magic class and Latin was downright boring. Her flying could probably be better considering that most of her classmates had never flown before arriving at Hogwarts, but it wasn't any worse than most of the class'.

She was a little below average in Sports, but Gangolf's bad performance assured that nobody paid much attention to it and she was working hard on improving her running and jumping. Her family probably wouldn't mind if she were bad at that subject, but she considered it a challenge.

The really troublesome subjects were Herbology and Potions. Colleen really wanted to do well and went into each lesson with the very best intentions, but she still couldn't bring herself to dig in the dirt without gloves or to touch sliced snails or beetle eyes.

Professor Sprout said that her performance was okay and Professor Snape even commended her neatness and occasionally awarded her points for properly cleaning her worktable at the end of the lesson, but she knew her performance was below average and it rankled her.

She still didn't have her French book and Sports clothes and hadn't been able to visit Phelippe either. None of that was the school's fault, though. When Professor Snape hadn't gotten an answer to his owl he'd even gone to the headmaster and Professor Dumbledore had owled her father repeating the offer, but her parents had declined saying that they didn't need Colleen underfoot right now.

Professor Snape had then informed his wife of the situation and Mrs Snape had actually gone to St Mungo's herself where she knew one of the nurses. As she wasn't a relative or family friend she hadn't been allowed to see Phelippe, but the nurse had found out that there was a spell that could cure him. Unfortunately Phelippe was still too young to have it performed, though, but if he survived until he was thirteen he would be cured completely then.

"The thing that worries the healers most at the moment is how he got to be this sick." Sarah had told her.

She hadn't been able to come to Hogwarts to visit her, of course, but every Tuesday Colleen had to have dinner at West Hogsmeade and apparently a teacher's mother was welcome to eat there as well, as long as she paid for her food like everybody else.

Colleen gave the motherly witch a grateful smile across their shabby table. It was strange how much more comfortable this place seemed all of a sudden. Was that due to the company, or was her relief about finally getting news on her brother's condition influencing her perception?

"You see." Mrs Snape continued. "He was indeed born with a slightly weak heart, a trait that apparently runs in your mother's family, but it shouldn't have caused him to get this sick. A lot of your ancestors must have had it without even knowing and others only had to take a simple heart strengthening potion for it. Phelippe's heart however shows additional damage that he wasn't born with."

"You mean, he had some very frightening experience, or overexerted himself?" Colleen asked. She'd read up on heart problems a bit and all the books said that hard physical labour or fear caused heart attacks.

Mrs Snape shook her head. "According to the healers the damage is of magical origin and it can't have been Phelippe's own innate magic. That's not that unusual, you know. People with certain deficiencies have been known to react badly to certain types of spells or potions. If you have low blood pressure for example, floo travel can cause you to faint and lactose intolerant witches mustn't take most nausea potions. What's so unusual about Phelippe's condition is that the magical traces found in his body don't fit any type of magic the healers recognise. That means they can't tell what magic should be kept away from Phelippe to keep him safe."

"So they think, if they let him go home, it might happen again." Colleen realised. "But how can they not recognise the magic? They're supposed to be experts!"

"They are." Mrs Snape confirmed. "But despite a lot of experience they haven't seen that particular problem before. I know that it's frightening not to know what nearly killed your brother, Colleen, but the very fact that nobody recognises it also indicates that it's probably a very rare type of magic, so it's not very likely to happen again."

"They're still not letting him go home." Colleen pointed out.

"Because it's suspected that that's where he encountered that particular magic." Mrs Snape explained. "As long as it's unknown what exactly it was, there's a risk that it's still there. Once the healers find out what exactly it is, your home can be checked and any danger removed."

"And if Phelippe isn't exposed to that kind of magic again before he can be cured, he's safe?" Colleen smiled. Then everything would be fine. Phelippe would stay at St. Mungo's until the bad magic had been removed and then return to the mansion. If he was home schooled until he was finally thirteen and could be cured he never had to leave the house which could be kept free of the bad magic. He'd have to start Hogwarts late, but he'd be safe.

"Unfortunately no." Mrs Snape admitted. "Now that his heart has been damaged exertion or excitement can cause him to have attacks without any magical cause. He will have to take heart potions every day and avoid any wild games. That's not easy for a child, I know, but other people are born with such conditions and still live long and successful lives. For Phelippe it will only be a few years."

Colleen still felt worried about her brother when she went to her French class, but at least she now knew exactly what to worry about. There probably was no danger as long as he was at the hospital anyway. Yes, the healers would be there right away, if Phelippe had another heart attack and would restart his heart with a spell. Maybe it was for the best that he wasn't allowed to go home, yet.

French as always took her mind off her problems. It was a difficult subject, but one she truly enjoyed studying for, so it wasn't a problem. She was doing well in the class and sharing a book with Cam was fun. All in all French, to Colleen, was the exact opposite of the Choir.

What was supposed to be a fun class became boring at best and embarrassing at worst thanks to Professor Trellawney. By Christmas the number of students present during Choir class had reduced by half, though Colleen didn't know of any who had actually quit. They simply found excuses not to show up instead.

The Hufflepuffs were the reason Colleen hadn't tried to quit herself. Lauri and Jorge kept talking her into participating 'for the community's sake' as they put it. Colleen herself saw it as a commitment she'd made for the year when she'd signed up.

"I'll pick another club instead next year, though." she told Lauri. "I'd like to try Art, or maybe Acting. Anny takes Acting, so we could go together."

"We'll miss you." Lauri returned. "But I have to admit that I've been considering taking Music or French instead as well. Maybe I'll quit, too."

 

Contrary to Colleen Danny found her clubs to be pure joy. Especially Volleyball allowed her to whirl around ad jump to her heart's content and the sadness over the separation from Tullia was long forgotten. Her Volleyball group was a wild bunch that enjoyed rough games and tended to get out of hand, if their teacher took her eyes off them for a moment. Tullia might have felt that was a bit too much for her, but Danny was always at the very center of the action.

Gymnastics was a little quieter, because it often required precision and concentration, but it was still a chance to move about after a long boring day of classes. Bruises from tripping over the rugs, colliding with Sports equipment or being hit by a particularly hard Volleyball shot were just a natural side effect of the fun and usually ignored. They did serve to provide a little entertainment in Sports class, though, where Gangolf got to stare at her bare arms and legs and occasionally express his fear of classes that left such marks.

She'd been unable to entirely suppress her love for fighting, but did her best to limit herself to Colleen, the Gryffindors and a few select Ravenclaws. Especially Shannon proved to be a worthwhile opponent and the Gryffindors always deserved it. The fights with Colleen annoyed her other classmates a little, but Danny just couldn't resist.

Concentrating her fighting on one classmate spared her trouble with the others at least and Gangolf just wasn't an option. What was the fun in fighting with somebody who ran away to cry at the first insult? At least Colleen always made an effort to fight, even though she was clearly outmatched whenever it got physical. She had some skill with insults, too, especially veiled ones.

Danny considered herself top of Flying class, though Professor Hooch occasionally complained about her lack of fine control.

"You're going too fast." she'd say. "And then you just jerk your broom over, tumble through the turns, lose your balance and drift off course. If you fly a little more slowly, but exactly, you're just as fast in the end."

But hey, there was enough room in the sky, so what could go wrong? If she didn't quite manage to get through between two objects she could always go over, under or around.

The only thing that worried her a little was that she'd failed the year's first History of Magic test. She hadn't expected the questions to be that difficult and . . . well, her mind had drifted off halfway through answering them, so she'd handed it in with only a little over half of the questions answered and, as it turned out, some of those incorrectly at that, but then who cared about the names of goblin leaders? She'd only gotten one goblin mixed up with a minister of magic, after all and apparently Grindelwald hadn't been a minister either. Maybe he'd been another goblin.

 

Anny, too, had become a daring flyer once she'd gotten the feel for her broom. She excelled in Sports class, though that was probably due to the unfair advantage of having had Sports in primary school already.

Her only problem was Astronomy. For some reason she seemed to be unable to concentrate on the lessons and practically sleepwalked to class every week. Apparently she wasn't made to work at night.

The Acting club problem on the other hand was solved shortly before the Christmas holidays in a lesson that actually started out rather badly.

They were trying on their costumes for the play for the first time and Anny had just slipped into the pair of diving fins that had been spelled green to look like frog's feet when the Gryffindors started up again. Wendy, who was playing the role of 'second frog' pushed her and she tripped over her fins and fell onto Alberta's frog's head. The weak paper at the back tore and Alberta stole Anny's still intact head instead. Anny tried to snatch it back, but Alberta wouldn't let go and somehow the mask ended up torn in half.

Nina Wantage started spouting bible quotes, or at least that's what Anny thought they were, about evil demons and snakes at her again and Wendy threw Anny's school robes out of the window.

That was all it took. The usually friendly Professor got so angry that she ordered everybody to return their costumes and push the desks back into the room. Wendy had to go get Anny's robes back, even though she didn't know her way around West Hogsmeade at all and claimed she wasn't even sure how to get outside.

The rest of the class was told to sit down and write their text from the play three times. Only Ken, a West Hogsmeade third year who played the little unicorn, was spared, because he had the most text.

Next the professor took a deep breath and told Anny to fetch the torn masks. With a little parchment from Anny's backpack and some glue from Ken she was able to fix Alberta's head. The attempt to do the same with Anny's head failed however. The mask would probably have held together again, but the scar was clearly visible and quite ugly.

"It's no use." the Professor decided. "We'll need to replace it. Just lucky it wasn't borrowed from anyone."

Anny nodded sadly. It had been a lot of hard work to make the masks and she doubted she could do as good a job without any assistance.

"I can try to make one at home during the holidays." she promised anyway.

"No, no, dear." the teacher shook her head. "That'll never work. I'll do it with my boyfriend."

Wendy returned at that moment and threw the snow soaked robes into Anny's face causing the teacher to yell some more before ordering her to cast a drying charm on the robes.

Of course Wendy didn't know that charm any more than Anny did, but Nina helped her out by 'unintentionally' setting fire to the cloth. Anny launched herself at Nina in response and the teacher had finally had enough and transferred Anny into the Romeo and Julia class.

Instead of a frog she played a servant now and didn't even have a speaking part, but at least her classmates were nicer and she'd been promised a bigger part in the next play. Salazar said that it was an honour to play Shakespeare and she should take the chance to learn from the older students.

 

Aterus had no such problems in the Chess Club. Every week he got to play against and get to know a different member, though he still liked Jessica best and always spent the time before the class began talking with her.

He was still bored in Latin and was also beginning to dislike Sports. Not that the class wasn't fun, but somehow he seemed to always be on the losing team and to take longer than everybody else to learn a new exercise.

One day after another lost Basketball game Isran even yelled at him. "It's all your fault! If you'd at least tried to get the ball once we might have had a chance."

But Aterus had tried and even succeeded twice, but each time the ball had fallen onto his toes and rolled away when he'd tried to dribble it over to the other team's basket.

Isran had apologised in the next Flying class and told Aterus that he knew very well that he had done his best, but Aterus could clearly hear the implied "but your best just isn't good enough." and Isran was right. All the other boys in class could dribble without hitting their toes.

"I not like play ball either." his friend Jorge consoled him. "Always lose ball."

Of course Jon ruined the effect a little when he told Aterus that Jorge was the fastest runner in the Hufflepuffs' Sports class and could do a perfect cartwheel.

Oh if only he were half as good as Billy in Sports!

 

Billy did almost as well in Sports as he did in Potions and that was saying a lot. So far they hadn't done a potion Billy hadn't been able to brew by heart and sometimes he even helped older students with their essays for the class.

"It's nothing special." he'd say whenever anyone mentioned it to him. "I just grew up with all those Potions Masters around. That's how I know it all." But inside he'd be glowing with pride.

The Chemistry club was slightly more challenging, but only because the group was small enough that Draco could set different tasks for different work groups. That way everybody got to work at a their own difficulty level.

Transfigurations on the other hand was a constant struggle. No matter how patient Professor McGonagall tried to be Billy's incompetence always lasted longer than her patience. At first he'd hoped that things would improve once he had mastered the levitation charm, but it had turned out to be an illusion. He could perform wingardium leviosa in his sleep by now and still everything he tried to transfigure started to fly around the room the moment he pointed his wand at it. He wondered how his parents would react, if he failed Transfigurations.

Sometimes he still worried about not being at home as well. Had the Rakers already forgotten him or would Mely finally present him with his cap during the holidays? Should he ask her for it maybe? It was against the custom, but maybe she needed a reminder.

And then there were the constant accusations of being a teachers' pet. They'd died down a little now that most students were used to him and he rarely heard it from Slytherins anymore. The Hufflepuffs never had accused him in the first place and there was a rumour that the head girl, a Hufflepuff, had admonished the Ravenclaw prefects that it wasn't Billy's fault that his father happened to work at Hogwarts. After that the Ravenclaws occasionally complained about teachers favouring Billy, but rarely to Billy himself anymore.

The Gryffindors however had found out that it got to him and had consequently become even more vocal about it. Sometimes Billy wished he could throttle the entire house. No wonder the hat had decided not to put him into Hufflepuff!

 

If Billy missed his home, Tullia was downright homesick at times, especially on days when there was beef on the menu or they had Flying. Despite being a good flyer, Tullia was still afraid of the class, though she had to admit that she was doing a lot worse in Latin. She liked Professor Stylus, though. The only teacher she disliked was Professor McGonagall which also caused her to hate Transfigrations.

Her best subject was definitely Potions. If it hadn't been for Billy, she'd have toped that class. Even with Billy outshining her Professor Snape had noticed her talent and encouraged her as much as he could. He was pleased with her plan to take Alchemy and recommended to stick with both Math and Chemistry while she did it.

Tullia was seriously considering it. It meant that she had to drop Volleyball once she reached third year, but she didn't care that much about the club anyway. It was a fun game, but she'd taken it because of Danny and now Danny wasn't even in the same group. Despite the presence of the Gryffindors in Volleyball she didn't suffer the way Anny had in Acting class. The Gryffindors were only two, after all, and Tullia had made friends with Ary who had the support of the other West Hogsmeade students. In fact it was the Gryffindors who were the most isolated in the class as the West Hogsmeade students had accepted Tullia much more easily.

Despite all that she was counting down the days until the Christmas holidays. She couldn't wait to see her family and friends again.

 

A/N: Will Gangolf get over the loss of his only friend? And will Phelippe be alright?

 

In the next chapter: The children leave for the Christmas holidays, Tullia finally sees her family again and maybe also Christmas at the Nocturnes.


	18. Going Home for Christmas

Chapter 18: Going Home for Christmas

 

"Have you seen my turquoise socks?" Gangolf asked Aterus.

Aterus blinked and cast another confused look over the items spread out on and around Gangolf's bed as well as the torn open cupboard and drawers and the wide open trunk.

"What are you doing?" he asked finally.

"Packing." Gangolf stated and waved a roll of parchment under Aterus' nose. "But I can't find my turquoise socks. Have any of you seen them?" he repeated this time including the rest of the boys as well.

"Turquoise?" Aterus repeated. "Is that some special brand?"

"No, it's a fancy way to say light green." Rupert explained. "Are you sure you haven't got them? There seem to be more than enough socks on your pillow already."

"No, no, I have them all checked here on my list, see." Gangolf stuck his parchment under Rupert's nose now. "The turquoise socks are missing."

"So maybe they're in the laundry." Pank shrugged. "What's the problem? You can just wear another pair, can't you?"

"But I need to pack my trunk for the holidays." Gangolf insisted. "I need all my clothes."

"You're really taking everything back home for just two weeks?" Billy looked up from packing his own backpack. "Didn't you leave any clothes at home?"

"And shouldn't that be enough socks for two weeks?" Rupert added gesturing towards Gangolf's pillow.

"But I can't just abandon my favourite socks!" Gangolf protested.

"You'll be back in two weeks." Pank pointed out once again.

"I'll have to ask the house elves." Gangolf decided. "Where can I find a house elf right now?"

"In the kitchens." Billy answered smirking. This might have interesting results, if Gangolf really managed to find the kitchens again and got caught in there.

"I'm an idiot!" Pank groaned seconds after Gangolf had rushed out. "I put my toothbrush at the bottom of my trunk."

"Well," Billy smirked again. "You can either unpack again, or not brush your teeth until you get home tomorrow evening."

Pank groaned again and threw a slipper at him as he started unpacking. "Maybe I can dig it out, if I just remove a few of the biggest items."

 

"Do you think my parents will take me to see Phelippe now that I'll be home anyway?" Colleen asked suddenly worried.

"Of course they will." Dinah declared with conviction. "Christmas is a celebration of family. It'd be completely impossible not to at least visit him to bring him his gifts, if he can't be home for the actual event."

"But what if they say I can't come along when they do?"

"They can't." Anny assured her. "He'll want to see you just as much as you want to see him."

"You'll have to be very quiet at the hospital and probably not be allowed to play with him." Tullia stated suddenly. "And not hug him too eagerly either."

She looked a little sad for a moment, despite her eagerness for tomorrow.

"I know that." Colleen snapped. "I'll be a perfect young lady, just like grandmother taught me. I'll walk in slowly and say: 'Good evening, beloved brother.' and kiss the air next to his cheek. And then I'll sit in a chair next to his bed and fold my hands in my lap. I'll ask how he feels and whether he wants me to read to him."

"And if he does?" Dinah asked. "You can't read him anything too exciting."

"That's right." Colleen nodded. "I'll have the house elves buy a book with bedtime stories for toddlers. It can be my Christmas present to him. I'll read him the most sugarly sweet story I find in there."

"He'll probably rather want to hear all about Hogwarts, though." Tullia declared. "After all he'll come here, too, in a few years."

"Eight years." Colleen stated sadly. "He can't be cured until he's thirteen and it'd probably be too dangerous to send him sooner."

"You shouldn't tell him anything too funny." Dinah suggested. "It might excite him."

"Nothing about the sorting either." Anny added. "Or about the ghosts. That's all exciting."

"And not about Flying or McGonagall." Tullia said. "That might scare him."

"Or about Sports class, or fighting with Danny." Colleen confirmed. "I'll tell him about you, though, Dinah. I'll tell him that you're my friend and of a good family and that Anny showed me how to tie a pretty ribbon into my hair. I'll tell him how Cam shares her French book with me and teach him a few words in French. And then I'll sing him that lullaby you taught me and say I learned that in Choir class."

"And what are you going to say about me?" Tullia pouted a little.

"Well, I can't tell him about the merpeople." Colleen decided. "That's much too adventurous. Maybe I could tell him that you don't like beef and that you take Math."

"You can tell him that Tullia helps you in Potions sometimes." Dinah suggested.

"But then I'll have to tell him about all the icky things we have to work with there." Colleen shook her head. "That's too disgusting. I'll tell him about Professor Snape, though, and that Billy's his son and Aterus' best friend."

"Don't tell him about Gangolf." Anny warned. "That's too funny."

"I should have brought my camera." Dinah said. "Then we could have taken a picture of all of us in front of the castle for him. He could keep it by his bed and look at it whenever he misses you. You'd just have to tell him that's where you are and those are the people you're with and he'd feel like he almost knows us."

"We can draw him a picture." Anny suggested and dug her pencils back out of her trunk. "And all sign it and write that we wish him well."

"Tullia!!!" Danny's yell startled Anny and she dropped the lid of her trunk onto her fingers. "Come and sit on my trunk! I can't close it."

"That's because you threw everything in like that." Dinah told her. "If you'd folded it in more neatly, like I showed you, it'd all fit nicely."

"Do you need a house elf?" Colleen sneered down at Danny who was still kneeling in front of her trunk pushing the lid down with both hands. Those were the exact words Danny had said to her when she'd complained about the time it took to fold up all her clothes the way Dinah had shown them.

Still, Dinah's way seemed to be the correct one. At least it looked a lot like the way the house elves had packed her clothes back at home.

"Oh, leave her alone." Tullia sighed and climbed onto the trunk. "That's just the way she is."

"Finally!" Danny gasped when she managed to close the trunk. "All packed."

"Do you want to help us draw a picture of ourselves to cheer up little Phelippe?" Anny asked from across the room where she'd spread out a roll of parchment on her night stand.

Danny snorted. "Colouring? How old do you think I am?"

"It doesn't matter how old we are." Dinah pointed out. "Phelippe is only six. Six year olds like coloured drawings. And it's only polite of us to show our concern and try to cheer him up a little."

"No way." Danny declared. "I'll be down in the common room, if you need me."

 

The southern train departed only an hour after breakfast the next morning, so there was a big rush in the common room and it got even worse in the entrance hall. Still the Slytherin first years all dragged their luggage out together. Billy, who was taking only his backpack helped Gangolf load his especially heavy trunk into the carriage and back out at the station.

The Gryffindors were already there and pelted them with snowballs as they got off, but Marcus Fortescue stopped the resulting fight before it could become serious when Gangolf sought refuge behind his back.

It took Pank's promise that he and Danny would protect Gangolf to coax the boy out of his hiding place and onto the train. Anny quickly hugged Dinah and Colleen good-bye and Aterus, who'd boarded early to reserve a compartment for the others waved at Billy from the train window one last time.

Then the train whistled, rolled out of the station and soon disappeared behind a mountain.

"Well, they're gone." sighed Colleen wishing she could have taken the early train as well.

"We'll be home before them." Dinah reminded her. "Their train goes all the way down to London."

"They're not all going that far." Tullia countered. "I bet Anny will be home before me."

"I bet I'll be home before any of you." Billy grinned. "See the big houses over there? That's where I live."

Indeed Merlin Park was visible from up here, though not very well.

"I bet I'll be the very last to get home." Rupert said and tried to pull his hat further over his ears to protect them from the cold.

"But you are going to take the floo back to Ireland, aren't you?" Colleen asked.

"No, I'm not old enough to floo that far on my own." Rupert shook his head sadly. "I'm to take a portkey along with the students from Northern Ireland. It'll take us to the train station in Belfast of all places. Then I'll have to take another train to Dublin and my parents will meet me there. It'll be almost midnight by the time we get home."

"At least you are going home." Dinah tried to console him. "Hermy told me that Mel's little sister has the measles, so she has to stay at Hogwarts. The owl arrived just in time this morning."

"If you're taking a port key, why did you bring your luggage to the station?" Colleen asked Rupert with a nod at his trunk.

"Because I have to take the train first." Rupert sighed. "The port key leaves from the international magical transportation office in Aberdeen. I know Scotland to Northern Ireland isn't international." he added hastily. "But it's still a long distance port key, so they're not allowed to have it at Hogwarts."

"Oh, then we're getting off together." Dinah beamed at him. "I live in Aberdeen."

"I have to get off at Dundee." Colleen told them. "Our invisible carriage will get me from there. What's your stop, Tullia?"

"I'm going all the way up to Inverness and then on by floo." Tullia sighed. "The train doesn't go any further north, you see."

But it did at least arrive right then. The pretty blue engine announced it with a loud whistle and then the train rolled into the station.

The students gathered up their luggage and soon found an empty compartment and five minutes later they rolled out of the station. They could see Billy waving after them until he got too small to see and the station disappeared from view as well.

Tullia flopped back into her seat. "We're finally on our way."

"Do you think Billy's still there waiting for his Dad?" Dinah asked staring back even though she couldn't see the station, let alone Billy, anymore.

"Professor Snape has to stay at the school." Rupert volunteered. "To watch the students who couldn't go home. Billy's going alone."

"He has to stay at the school all year?" Tullia gasped. That had to be horrible!

"Of course not." Rupert shook his head. "Billy said the teachers take turns. At least one head of house has to stay for Christmas and Easter every year, but the others get to go home to their families. This year it just happens to be Snape's turn."

"But that's not fair." Colleen commented. "There aren't even any Slytherins staying and I know for a fact that neither McGonagall nor Flitwick have kids."

"I think he volunteered to stay now anyway, because Draco is getting married right after the Easter holidays." Dinah mused. "He'll want to have Easter off, so he can help with the preparations."

"Just how much can there be to prepare?" Rupert clearly didn't believe her theory.

"Oh, lots of things." Dinah laughed. "The last month before a wedding gets really hectic for the whole family. I remember when my aunt got married even the neighbours had to come over to help send out invitations, there were fifteen witches to prepare the food for all the guests and granny almost didn't manage to get the dress finished in time."

"Your grandmother sewed the wedding dress?" Colleen asked surprised. "Why didn't your aunt just go to the seamstress?"

"Because it's much more personal." Dinah explained. "And it's family tradition. The dress is a gift from the family, you know."

"My Mum wore a white bathing suit at her wedding." Tullia remarked.

The others stared at her.

"Well, my parents got married in the lake. It was the only way, you see. The human guests could all wear bubble head charms or snorkels in the water, but the merpeople wouldn't have been able to hear the ceremony, if they'd had to come in water tanks. Besides, the tanks would have been much more expensive."

"I still wouldn't want to get married underwater." Colleen frowned. "I want a proper wedding dress and church."

"Well, then you'd better not fall in love with a merman." Dinah teased her.

"Love?" Colleen repeated. "Love has nothing at all to do with it and a merman is out of the question anyway. My parents will pick me a proper pureblooded wizard to marry. I just hope he's good looking as well."

"Your parents will pick your husband for you?" Dinah sounded scandalised. "Don't you get any say?"

"But how can you marry someone you don't love?" Tullia couldn't believe it.

"It'll be a marriage based on mutual respect." Colleen explained. "And to the advantage of both our families. What could be better than getting an influential wizard?"

"Being an influential witch on your own merits." Tullia shot back. "And marrying the male of your choice. I think I want a merman myself. Or maybe I won't get married at all."

"I want a really handsome wizard who's completely in love with me." Dinah declared. "It wouldn't hurt if he were rich and had a big romantic manor house either."

"You'll have to marry Pank or Aterus then." Colleen giggled. "They've both got nice manors."

Rupert groaned. "Girls!"

"What?"

"Don't you have any more interesting topics than marriage and clothes?"

"Marriage is important for a young lady." Colleen declared. "It will decide her entire life."

"Will not." Tullia declared. "A modern witch has a job that allows her to control her fate. If you get a good job, you won't be dependent on any husband."

"You need a husband to have children, though." Dinah amended. "And I want lots of children. Don't you, Rupert?"

Rupert shrugged. "I don't know. That's years away. I've never thought about it."

"So what do you want to do with your life?" Tullia asked him.

"Well, I'll inherit my parents' shop someday." Rupert shrugged. "I could sell you your wedding dress ... or bathing suit."

"I'd like to become minister of magic." Dinah commented. "Do you think that's possible?"

"There's never been a female minister before." Colleen stated.

"I want to do research." Tullia said. "Maybe water plants like my Mum, or perhaps Potions or Alchemy. I like Potions and it probably receives more recognition, too."

"Well, I'd like to be the wife of the minister." Colleen decided. "But it doesn't necessarily have to be the British one. I bet the French minister would be much more classy."

The time seemed to fly until they reached Dundee, where Rupert and Dinah helped Colleen to unload her trunk. A tiny house elf wearing an elegant towel accepted it at the door and levitated it away.

"Grandmother, how wonderful to see you." Colleen greeted a stern witch in dark robes. "I hadn't expected you'd be able to meet me. Does that mean Phelippe is feeling better?"

"Welcome home, Colleen." the witch returned just as stiffly. "Are these your friends?"

"Oh yes, of course. Please pardon my rudeness. My worry, for my dear brother made me forget my manners for a moment. This is Ms Dinah Laxter, Master Rupert Lennox, from an Irish wizarding family, and there at the window is Ms Tullia Waterwall. They are all in my year and house. This is my grandmother Lady Anastasia Nocturne."

"Waterwall?" the grandmother frowned slightly.

"She was sorted into my house, grandmother, and we have to share a dorm." Colleen apologised. "Besides she appears to be quite talented at subjects I've found to be hard for me. It might prove worthwhile to keep a polite relationship."

There wasn't time to hear anything more, though. The train whistled and started to roll away.

"Good bye, Colleen!" they yelled out of the window waving at the girl. "Have a nice Christmas!"

"And merry Christmas to your brother, too!" Dinah added, but it was doubtful whether Colleen had still been able to hear her.

A few minutes later the sweets cart came through and they ate chocolate frogs and played exploding snap until they reached Aberdeen, where Dinah and Rupert had to get off.

Dinah's parents appeared to be part of a larger group of witches and wizards that stood together at the end of the platform. She disappeared into the group too fast for Tullia to make out which witch or wizard she was heading towards. Then a large group of Hufflepuffs ran out towards the same group and it became impossible to see anything at all as parents and children hugged each other welcome or good bye. Apparently most of the witches and wizards knew the others' children as well, so it was impossible to be sure who belonged with whom.

Rupert on the contrary looked rather lost and alone trudging after the group of Irish students as an official looking young wizard led them away. Tullia hoped he wouldn't lose the group entirely dragging his heavy trunk while everybody else seemed to have levitation charms, or a trolley for their luggage.

Soon the train was rolling out of Aberdeen, though and the long boring part of the journey began. There was nobody left in the compartment to talk to, but Tullia didn't quite dare to leave and look through the other compartments for some company. She thought she might interrupt an important conversation, or it might annoy people, if she forced herself on them and their friends. Colleen would certainly tell her that it wasn't polite to intrude.

Of course there might be other students who'd been left all alone by now, but what if she did indeed find someone, but lost her way, or forgot to return to her compartment in time? Would the train remain at the station long enough for her to find her luggage and drag it out? Where would she end up, if it left with her still inside?

Thus she stayed in the compartment and stared out the window trying to imagine what it'd be like to finally be back home. It was already getting dark outside by the time she finally saw the first lights of Inverness outside. For a moment she wondered where Danny was right now. Had she already reached London?

But now was no time to daydream. She dropped her trunk onto her head as she pulled it out of the luggage compartment over her seat and had to let it fall to the floor. Hopefully nothing inside had been damaged, she thought while rubbing the bump on her head.

Once again there was no time, though. The train was already slowing down. It would stop soon and she had to be ready to get off. Hastily she dragged her trunk out into the corridor and towards the door.

Only three other students seemed to have been left in the coach and they were still busy taking down their luggage and talking. They only glanced at her for a moment as she dragged her trunk past their compartment.

It seemed forever until the train finally came to a full stop and she could swing open the door. Where was her mother? Tullia didn't expect her father to be there as he hated flooing just as much as she did. Floo travel dried out their skin and made it itch for hours afterwards. Apparently it had something to do with being part merman, because Tullia had never met anybody else who'd complained about that problem.

For a moment Tullia feared that her mother had forgotten and she'd be stranded in this city she barely knew, but then she stumbled down the steps and onto the platform and there she was.

"Mum!" Tullia dropped her trunk and launched herself at her mother. "Oh Mum, I missed you so much. And Dad and all the merpeople. There's a colony in the lake at Hogwarts, but Professor McGonagall wouldn't let me talk to them ..."

She didn't even notice the bewildered stares of her fellow travellers at the squall of Mermish.

Her mother hugged her back tightly, then cast a quick levitation charm on the trunk to make sure it would follow behind them.

"Oh Tullia. Is Hogwarts really so bad for you?" she asked when the girl finally stopped to breathe.

Tullia opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again. Bad? Was Hogwarts bad?

"I ... I don't know." she admitted finally. "I mean it's really strange and sometimes lonely and some of the food there is absolutely terrible, but some foods are simply delicious and I've made lots of new friends. Our head of house is really great and I love Potions and except for McGonagall the teachers are all very nice. Well, Flying's bad, but I'd have that anywhere. It's really just not being allowed to see the merpeople, I guess."

"You know, nothing in this world is ever perfect. You always have to take the bad along with the good." her mother told her. "You're getting a very good education at Hogwarts and learning more about wizarding culture. In return you'll have to accept that you have to be away from home for a while and that not everybody will understand your ways. Now come on, we should get to the floo station."

Indeed, they should. The sooner they reached the floo station, the sooner they'd be home.

"So, how are your new hobbies going?" her mother asked as they walked down the platform. "You wrote you'd joined a Volleyball club?"

"Oh yes, it's a fun game." Tullia nodded. "But I really just picked it, because of Danny and now she's in a different group. Of course that meant I got to know the other team members better, but I'm still not sure I want to continue to play next year."

"Why not? You say it's fun and you made friends there."

"Yes, but I want to learn Alchemy." Tullia burst out. "It's so fascinating. Billy's older brother teaches it. Billy's the son of Professor Snape, you know."

"And you can't do that and play Volleyball once a week on the side?"

"Well, Professor Snape says it's not really much use to take Alchemy, if I don't take Chemistry as well. One year of Chemistry is even required before you're allowed to start Alchemy, but the professor says it's not nearly enough if I'm serious about becoming an alchemist. He even thinks that I should continue to take Math as well to help me understand the Muggle sciences better. But that means taking three very serious clubs and Volleyball would mean a fourth extra class."

"An alchemist, Tullia?" her mother looked very surprised. "I don't know, sweetie. Isn't that a completely outdated art? And you are awfully young to make career decisions. There's so much you haven't tried, yet. Alchemy is obviously very complicated and ..."

"I know, Mum." Tullia cut her off before she could discourage her completely. "But Professor Snape says I've got the talent and true alchemists are still rare. There'll probably be a demand for them in a few years once people realise what they can do. He says that at the very least it'd be extra qualifications, if I apply for a job as a brewer."

"Potions, Tullia?" her mother asked once again. "I just don't know. It's so far from everything I'm familiar with. I always thought you wanted to study Herbology, like me."

"Oh, I'd like to and I'm still considering it, but I'm not nearly as good at it as at Potions. Pank's the Herbology talent in our class. Most of the Hufflepuffs are better than me as well. In Potions only Billy can beat me and he's been brewing since he was old enough to stir a cauldron." Tullia beamed at her mother proudly. "Billy's entire family are alchemists, you know. His Mum, his Dad and his big brother."

"And what do they do, Tullia? What jobs do they have? Are you sure you'd like that?"

"Well, Professor Snape is our head of house and teaches Potions. Draco is a professor, too. He teaches Potions, Alchemy, Chemistry and Physics at West Hogsmeade Wizarding School. And Mrs Snape brews medical potions for the Hogsmeade hospital."

"West Hogsmeade, that school for squibs?"

"They're the only school in Britain that has wizards and squibs." Tullia nodded. "They're very proud of that and Professor Snape says, that it makes teaching there a special challenge, especially for the Potions teachers. The squibs can't brew most traditional potions, you see, so the squib classes do a lot of Chemistry in their practical work. Billy told me that the school actually wants to have three alchemists teaching Potions, so all of them will be equally qualified to teach the squibs, but right now they have only two Potions teachers and only Draco is an alchemist. He's a bit overworked teaching three clubs as well."

"That school is actually looking for two alchemists?"

"It's a very big school. I think they have about three times as many students as Hogwarts. And it's really cool, too. They have those pretty spells and pictures on every door and ..."

They'd reached the floo station by now and Tullia had to stop her description of the school in order to throw the floo powder into the flames and give her destination. By the time Mrs Waterwall stepped out of her fireplace at home the girl was already dangling from her father's neck by both arms.

She'd be too heavy for that soon, Mrs Waterwall thought. Already Claudius Waterwall couldn't hold her up for very long and had to set her down again with a hug and a kiss.

"My little girl." he smiled down at her. "But you have grown quite a bit since September. I just hope your robes will last through the year."

Tullia giggled and kissed him again, then seemed to remember something.

"I have to say hello to my friends!" she shouted and sprinted out the door leaving it open in her haste.

Mrs Waterwall went to close it, but stopped in the open door to watch her daughter race down the pier towards the hole Claudius had hacked into the ice. Tullia dropped to her knees at the end of the pier and plunged her head into the icy water without even hesitating. Here on land it was impossible to hear her words, but Mrs Waterwall could well imagine her happy yell of "I'm home!".

How many more times would she return like this, though? She was growing up so fast.

"Claudius, our baby wants to study Alchemy." she said shutting the door and turning to her husband. "Alchemy. Wherever did she get that from?"

"Children get all sorts of ideas, honey." Claudius laughed. "She's only eleven. Let her have her dreams."

"But she wants to take all sorts of extra classes for it."

"They can't fail her for failing an extra class, can they?" Claudius smiled at her reassuringly. "And the extra knowledge won't hurt her, if she really does take them. Most likely she'll have forgotten all about it long before starting second year."

"And if she doesn't? What if our daughter grows up to be a brewer?"

Claudius shrugged. "Why not? There'll always be people in need of potions. It sounds a lot more secure than your research job, actually. I wouldn't worry about it."

"But how will she manage without our support? We don't know anyone in that business."

"How do all the muggle borns manage?" Claudius returned. "What about orphans and children of ministry clerks? Tullia's a very bright and strong girl. She'll make her own way, and if she doesn't, she's still fluent in Mermish. I can always get her a job in my business on the skills she already has."

 

It was too cold in the bathroom on the train, Danny thought as she changed from her school uniform into her Muggle clothes. But she had used the need to change to excuse herself from Gangolf.

Unfortunately she'd been left alone with Mirrorboy since Pank had gotten off in Birmingham and her patience with him had run out long before that. It really was lucky that she didn't have any clubs with the idiot. He'd drive her mad, if the others weren't always there to run interference.

Right now he was probably practising his ballet in the compartment. How had that Barbara been able to take this?

Well, it didn't matter. Danny slipped into her jacket and throwing her robes over her shoulder marched out of the bathroom.

She killed some time by picking a fight with a Gryffindor second year who almost stepped on her toe in his attempt to squeeze past her in the corridor that was already filling up with students dragging their trunks towards the exits. Then she hopped over a few trunks, collided with a Ravenclaw caught her foot in a Hufflepuff third year's backpack that was standing on the floor next to her compartment and arrived in the compartment just as the train finally came to a stop.

To her disappointment Gangolf was still inside. Apparently he was unable to get his trunk back down on his own.

Danny pulled both trunks down despite Gangolf's protest that she was handling his precious possessions too roughly. Honestly, what did he expect her to do? Get expelled for casting a levitation charm during the holidays? Not likely.

"Help me!" Gangolf called once again. "I can't get it through the door."

"Have you tried pushing it though lengthwise?"

Of course not. He was trying to pull the broadside of the trunk through the door in his panic. This was the final stop. The train wasn't about to leave again anytime soon.

Danny was almost tempted to abandon Gangolf to figure it out on his own, but he was blocking the only door. With a sigh she tilted his trunk for him until it fit through the door then pushed him along the corridor towards the exit.

A hysterical blond witch descended upon them the moment Gangolf set a foot out onto the platform.

"Gangolf! Oh my poor baby!" she shrieked. "I already thought they'd lost you! Poor baby! And your poor pretty robes! All rumpled up!"

"Mummy! I missed you so much!" Gangolf wrapped his arms around her right away.

"Honestly." Danny snapped pushing Gangolf's trunk out after him and letting it drop onto the platform, because neither of the two bothered to accept it from her. "He's not lost at all. He just took his time getting off, so why the hell is he poor? And you might want to try an ironing charm on his robes when you get home. It takes about ten seconds. It's not the end of the world."

"You look so pale, my poor darling." the witch was almost crying by now and seemed completely unimpressed by Danny's advice. "And your hair's messed up as well. Oh, where is my comb."

Danny decided to get out of here before she had to strangle Gangolf's mother. The witch was even worse than her son!

Her own mother was nowhere in sight, so she grabbed an abandoned trolley for herself hoisted her trunk onto it and headed off towards the magical barrier. The cue was already very long thanks to her having been one of the last students to get off, but it didn't matter that much to her, because Gangolf and his mother didn't follow right away. By the time they were satisfied with the condition of Gangolf's hair there were enough people between them that Danny didn't feel like she had to acknowledge their presence.

She still heard them though.

"Your Daddy has promised to take you to the cinema tomorrow afternoon." Gangolf's mother promised her son as they cued up. "He'll probably also bring you your first Christmas present and then the day after that we're invited to tea at grandma's place and on Saturday we'll visit Aunt Betty and your cousins are staying with us the day after that. I'm sure you've been looking forward to playing with the girls again. I know they missed you a lot."

"Oh, can we use your make-up again, Mummy?" Gangolf asked eagerly. "Then we can play beauty parlour."

"Well, I'll have to get a few new lipsticks anyway, so I guess you can have the old ones. Don't let the girls ruin any of the new ones, though, you hear!"

"Of course, Mummy." Gangolf promised. "That won't happen again. I just didn't know that Miranda hadn't used lipstick before. She's older now and I'll be sure to show her exactly how to handle it properly before I let her play. No need to worry."

"I know, I know. But don't be too hard on her, either. I remember you ruined a few as well before you got the hang of their use. Just give her the almost empty ones to practise with. The poor girl needs to learn sometime. She'll be eight in only a few months."

Gangolf played beautician with seven year old girls? Danny grinned to herself. Just wait until the boys hear about that! Billy and Rupert would have a field day with that information.

Maybe it was even worth keeping as blackmail material? But then, what could Danny ever need from Gangolf? No, she'd just tell the boys, or better tell it at dinner when everybody was gathered to hear.

She wondered what the Gryffindors might come up with when they heard. With a little luck they'd get caught and lose some points for the prank on top of the fun.

Gangolf was now talking about school. He was best in Transfigurations, Charms and Latin? Gangolf? Next he'd probably claim that he got record marks in Flying as well. Well, he probably did hold the negative school record there.

After the detailed list of his imaginary academic achievements Gangolf started to complain about the Gryffindors, the West Hogsmeade students, Flying, his classmates, the Sports teacher ...

But then Danny had reached the front of the line and together with two fifth years was waved through the barrier. Her father was waiting outside. As a Muggle he couldn't enter the platform without the help of his wife and apparently Mum wasn't with him.

"Hi Daddy!" Danny gave him a quick hug. "Are you here by car?"

He nodded. "In the taxi stands outside."

Danny grinned. Some of his fellow taxi drivers were probably cursing him for abandoning his car right now.

"Don't you want to say good bye to your friends first?" her Dad asked when she started to steer her trolley away. "You do have friends, don't you?"

"What? Oh, sure I do, but none of them live in London."

"You shouldn't scare everybody off, you know." he looked worried. "Friends are very important."

"I have friends, Dad, honestly." she assured him. "I get on great with my fellow Slytherins."

"Then why don't you introduce me to them?" he challenged. "Show me just one of your friends."

"Because they aren't here." Danny insisted. "I can tell you about them, though. My best friend's called Tullia. She lives in Scotland, so she took a different train. Pank got off in Birmingham. Rupert took a port key to Ireland. Billy lives in Hogsmeade. That's the town the school is in, so he walked home. Dinah's Scottish as well and Aterus lives somewhere near Nottingham."

"And none of your classmates live in London?" her Dad insisted while fastening his seat belt. "There were so many children coming off that platform."

"Gangolf." Danny admitted flopping onto the customers' bench in the back. "But he's totally crazy. Nobody likes him."

"Don't ruin the upholstery." her Dad admonished her. "The feet remain on the floor."

Danny rolled her eyes. "Sure, Dad."

"Good girl." The taxi rolled out of the line and onto the road. "So how's Quidditch?"

"First years aren't allowed to play." Danny pouted. "I took Volleyball instead."

"That's nice." her Dad commented. "I had a friend who played that in high school."

"It's really cool." Danny confirmed. "Most of my team mates are second and third years, though. Tullia's really disappointed, because she's in a different group."

"That's a weird name, Tullia." her Dad said and stopped the taxi at a red light.

"It's Latin." Danny shrugged. "A lot of wizards and witches have Latin names."

"Sounds strange to me." The traffic light changed to yellow and the taxi shot away. Danny's Dad never had been one to obey the traffic rules too strictly.

"It could be worse." Danny shrugged. "Her first language's Mermish. I can't even pronounce Mermaid names."

"Where's Mum?" she asked when they finally left London and there was less to see through the windows.

"Work." her Dad answered. "They had some incident at a day care center. Apparently a little wizard was harassed by some other kids and set them on fire and for some reason the monitoring office missed it, so by the time they found out, it was too late to obliviate the day care worker."

"What about the children?" Danny asked more out of curiosity than actual worry. She didn't even know those kids, after all.

"Oh, they'll be fine." her Dad assured her. "They had to be treated for burns of course, but only two of them had to stay at the hospital."

"No, I mean, shouldn't they have been obilviated as well?"

"Nah, the oldest is only four. Nobody would believe such a small child. They'd think he made it all up, or had a dream, or just misunderstood. If the day care worker hadn't reported seeing the children spontaneously catch fire nobody would have thought much about it."

"So what's Mum supposed to tell the Muggles?"

"That one of them knocked over a burning candle, I think. There were candles in the room from an advent celebration they'd had earlier. The problem with that is that the day care worker wouldn't leave any matches lying around. Lets hope that one of the kids is indeed able to light a candle. Then it shouldn't be too hard to claim that they stole or found a book of matches and decided to continue the celebration. Then they got distracted by the little wizard and one of them accidentally knocked over the candle and now they're lying about lighting it, because they're afraid of punishment, or feeling guilty for hurting their friends."

"You think the parents will believe that?" Of course Danny knew that her mother had fed weirder stories to Muggles before, but she still had her doubts. "As convinced as they tend to be of the innocence of obviously guilty children sometimes ..."

"Ah, but that's the beauty of it." her Dad grinned. "They can each blame it on somebody else's kid. 'Oh, my poor baby was only watching.' 'He was talked into it by that bad boy.' There might be some quarrelling about who actually lit the candle and who pushed it over, but there won't be any more talk of magic."

And after all that was all Danny's Mum needed to achieve before she could come home to greet her daughter. Danny smirked to herself. Mum would probably have a story to tell this evening.

 

A/N: Will Danny really tell on Gangolf? Will Tullia have forgotten about Alchemy by the time she starts her second year? And will Phellippe like the girls' picture?

 

In the next chapter: Aterus tries to hide from his mother, Anny goes shopping and Pank is bored. (Christmas at the Nocturnes will probably be moved to the chapter after that.)


	19. Family Troubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I think I need to clear something up. When I said we'd visit each of the kids during Christmas, I meant sometime during the holidays. I don't think I could pull off 10 Christmas celebrations one right after the other without becoming boring and repetitive. The original idea was to do the celebration itself with Colleen, but I've changed my mind a little and we'll most likely see another traditional Snape Christmas in the next chapter.

Chapter 19: Family Troubles

 

Aterus was watching a picture on the hunting habits of adders in his big snake book. It was quite fascinating and he thought he might take it to school with him to show Anny. Maybe it would even inspire Salazar to tell them more about Sassy.

The adder in the picture, a bigger, but less impressively coloured, species than Sassy, had just sighted a mouse and was getting ready to strike . . .

"Aterus-darling! Do you want some porridge?"

Aterus looked up at his mother just as the snake struck. "No thanks, Mum, I'm full."

Breakfast had been less than an hour ago.

"I see. Would you rather have corn flakes?"

"No thanks, Mum."

"How about some soup?"

"I'm full Mum, honest." The mouse's tail disappeared in the snake's mouth just as Aterus looked down at the picture again. He'd missed not only the kill, but also the eating.

"I've brought you an extra pair of socks, so you don't catch cold."

"Thank you, Mum." Actually Aterus was beginning to think that he was dressed a bit too well, if he wasn't planning to go outside today. "I'll put them on later."

"No, no, no. You'll forget and catch cold."

"I'm hot right now, Mum. I'm sitting right next to the fire." Aterus tried to explain.

"You're always making up excuses." his mother accused. "Just so you can play. And ignoring the advice and hard work of your poor old mother. Now you're even refusing me the one minute of your time it will take to put on your socks to keep you warm and healthy ..."

Aterus put on the socks hoping that she would leave him to finish reading in peace. She did, but by now the picture snake had rolled up to digest the mouse. It wasn't about to repeat the hunt anytime soon.

But then there were other interesting things in this book. Aterus had just found a picture of hatching baby snakes when the door opened again.

"Here's your porridge, Aterus."

"But Mum, I said I wasn't hungry."

"You don't like porridge anymore?" his mother looked so disappointed. "It was always your favourite breakfast."

"I love porridge. I'm just full. I've already had breakfast today."

"Well, I'll just leave it here standing next to you in case you get hungry."

Aterus suppressed a groan. Now he was going to have to eat the porridge or it was going to spoil and the house elves would have to throw it away.

Oh well, he was going to force it down right after the little snakes hatched and get it over with.

"You know, I've misplaced my glasses somewhere." his mother stated. "I've sent Toggy, Milly and Fibby to look for them, but they haven't brought them to me, yet. I'm beginning to worry about them. What if they don't find them?"

"When did you send them to look?" Aterus asked wondering whether it was even worth continuing to read at this rate.

"Just before I brought you the porridge. Why?"

"Don't you think that's a little short to get worried?" Aterus reasoned wondering why his mother expected him to care about her reading glasses' whereabouts. "They have to search the whole mansion for the glasses and then find you. Or did you tell them where you were going to be when they found them?"

"No but I still worry. Not really so much about the glasses, but that the washing gets done in time so you'll be able to wear your robes again tomorrow and I have to see that you and your father get fed. Oh I hate all this cooking and feeding business!"

Then stop doing so often! Aterus thought, but didn't dare say it. He already knew that didn't work. His mother was convinced that he'd starve and have no clothes to wear.

"Mum, I own at least ten different sets of robes." he told her instead. "It doesn't matter whether the one in the laundry gets washed today at all."

"But you might like to wear it."

"I'll wear whatever I find." Aterus assured her. "Don't worry about it."

At least she wasn't trying to get any of the clothes currently on his body for her laundry basket. Aterus did not feel like stripping just so his mother had more laundry to press on Toggy.

"Oh, but I do. It's my duty as a mother and wife. Oh, how I hate all those duties." she continued. "I met Mrs Huberta at the apothecary last week." She suddenly changed the topic, or maybe Mrs Huberta had said something about unpleasant duties that she wanted to tell Aterus, but then she got off track. "The poor witch had hurt her ankle, so I gave her the address of that healer who cured me when I broke my leg last year. He was so helpful. Not at all like the one I see for my eyes. I think I ought to visit him again, but I'm too afraid. What if there's something seriously wrong with my eye? I feel like I don't see as clearly with my right eye, lately."

"Then it's best, if you see the healer as soon as possible." Aterus advised. 'And leave me some time to breathe.' he added silently. "Why don't you go right away and get it over with. You'll feel much better once you know what's wrong. Maybe you just need your reading glasses adjusted."

"But then I'd have to leave you all alone and it's only three more hours until lunch time. I have to supervise the cooking."

"I'm sure Fibby is experienced enough to manage on her own." Aterus suggested. He wished his mother had some friends that would distract her from feeding her family from time to time. Or at least listen to her healer-tales instead of him!

Friends! Now there was an idea. Maybe he could escape this way.

"That reminds me!" he exclaimed. "Tolly wanted to show me something this morning. I bet she's already waiting. Sorry Mum, but I have to go. I just can't disappoint her."

He hadn't promised the house elf girl anything, but Tolly was as usual quite happy to see him.

"I is learned three new cleaning charms." she told him proudly. "I is shows Master Aterus?"

Aterus nodded eagerly. Anything to get away from his mother for a while. It had been wonderful to finally see her again, but after three days at home she was still clinging to him all day.

"Lets go up to the attic." he suggested. "There's always something dirty up there."

Tolly nodded eagerly. "House elves is not clean attic until spring. Attic all dusty."

"I learned some really nice charms as well." Aterus told her after she'd demonstrated all three charms repeatedly and explained when best to use them. "But I'm not allowed to do magic out of school, so I can't show you. I can only tell you about them."

"Ises there lots of house elves at Hogwarts?" Tolly asked instead. "Isses you makes many new friends Master Aterus?"

"Yes, to both, but I didn't meet many of the elves. Students aren't allowed into the kitchens."

"Better friends than Tolly?" The little elf's ears quivered.

"Different friends." Aterus tried to explain. "Friends who like to play other games."

"What other games?" Her ears rose a little telling Aterus that she was interested and just a little more hopeful.

"For example wand turning." he answered. "And Anny told us there's a similar Muggle game called spin the bottle."

"Cans Tolly play wand turning?" very hopeful now.

"I'm not sure." Aterus hesitated. "I don't think it qualifies as using magic, but you're not allowed to touch a wand. It's probably safer to try the Muggle version and I haven't done it before anyway."

It didn't really make much sense to spin a bottle to determine who'd answer a question when you only had two players, but Aterus and Tolly didn't mind. It was new and it was fun.

They'd barely gotten started when the trap door to the attic swung open, though.

"Oh there you are!" Aterus' mother beamed at them. "I've been looking all over for you. You shouldn't sit on the cold floor, you know. You'll get sick! Let me transfigure you some cushions. I've brought you some muffins and tea so you won't get hungry until lunch."

Aterus just barely managed to stop her from taking their bottle with them to dispose of when she finally left.

"Here Tolly," he said offering the plate to the house elf. "Have some muffins before Mum thinks I don't like them anymore."

Luckily Tolly had learned that accepting offered food from Aterus was a service to the boy a long time ago and she'd also come to accept that her mistress could only be kept happy by eating whatever she pressed on her as well. At least the Sorrel house elves were definitely not underfed, which was more than could be said of some of their less fortunate cousins.

 

Sally Andersen was quite surprised when Anny Sharpe rang her doorbell.

"Anny? I thought you'd moved to Scotland?" She blushed apparently realising that her exclamation was rather rude.

Anny didn't take offence, though. After all Sally hadn't seen her in several months.

"Only during the school term." Anny explained. "I'm back for Christmas now and . . . well I need to buy some Christmas presents and thought maybe you'd like to come along. It's a lot more fun to shop with a friend."

Sally blushed. "You really mean that?"

"That I'd like you to go shopping with me? Of course." Anny nodded. "That's why I'm asking you."

"No, I mean, that I'm your friend." Sally beamed at her. "Nobody's ever called me that before."

"Why, of course you're my friend." Anny declared. "I guess not as close as when we went to school together everyday, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten you."

"Oh, okay. Let me just grab my coat and some money." Sally dashed back into the flat and returned in record time. "Ready!"

"Didn't you make a lot of really cool new friends at your posh school?" she asked a little later while they were waiting for the bus that would take them to the shopping center.

All Sally had been told about it was that Anny had gotten a scholarship to a school in Scotland through some distant relative. Sally probably assumed that it was some very rich, childless, Scottish snob who'd decided to bestow a little favour on her poor cousins by paying for their daughter's education at an expensive elite school.

"Sure, but I also realised that I missed you." Anny told her. "One day we played a game and each of us had to say who our best friend at home was and I realised it was you."

"And you told them that?"

"Of course."

"Even about my odd eyes?"

"Yes, and how mean Mona always was about it." Anny smirked. "Billy said I should have beaten her up for you."

Sally laughed. "Seriously? He'd expect you to beat up big Mona?"

Anny nodded. "Well, he's never met her. Billy's the son of the P ... Chemistry teacher. He's really cool, but gets into a lot of fights, because the Gryffindors always tease him about being a teacher's child."

"Gryffindors?" Sally asked. "Who're they?"

"They're a house . . . Sort of a different dorm." How could she explain the houses? "There are four different parts of the school that have dorms and each has some students from every year. Billy and I are in Slytherin, for example."

"That dorm has both boys and girls?" Sally stared at her wide eyed and almost missed the arrival of the bus.

"No, there are seven boys' dorms and seven girls' dorms in each house. I'm in the first year girls' dorm in Slytherin house, and Billy is in the first year boys' dorm, but we use the same common room to study and play in." Anny climbed onto the bus and bought a ticket.

Sally had a ticket for the entire year because she took the bus to school.

"So how come you're so close with Billy?" she asked once they had settled down on one of the benches.

"I'm not particularly close with him." Anny corrected. "No closer than with the rest of the Slytherin first years. There are only ten of us, you know. We're both on the Soccer team, though."

"Really? You're on the school team? That's so exciting!" Sally exclaimed.

"Only the junior reserves." Anny amended. "Billy's on the junior main team, but the real stars are the senior team."

"That's still cool." Sally decided. "You're only a first year, after all. You'll make the main team someday."

Anny nodded. "I'm planning to, but it might take a few years. What about you, though? How's your new school."

"Okay, I guess." Sally shrugged. "I still have to deal with Mona, but Jenny went to boarding school as well. And I've got a new friend called Judy. She's a year older, had to repeat, because she missed too many classes last year, so Mona's a bit afraid of her."

"That's great." Anny smiled at her. "I wish I'd been able to scare away Mona."

"How could you have? You're not older than her."

"I bet Danny wouldn't have had a problem scaring her." Anny mused. "Danny's one of my dorm mates. A real tomboy."

Sally laughed. "I'd thought all of your classmates would be posh little princesses who wouldn't want to get their pretty dresses dirty."

"That's Colleen." Anny laughed too. "She really hates H ... Biology. We do some practical gardening there almost every lesson, you see."

"And you have to share your dorm with her? Poor girl!"

"No, Colleen's fine, really." Anny amended. "She can be a bit arrogant and fussy, but she's a lot of fun and a real genius in History. She's just not one for practical work."

"You actually like a spoiled little bitch?" Sally frowned at that.

"She doesn't have it all that easy, you know." Anny explained. "Her parents ignore her, her grandmother's very strict and her little brother is in the hospital after a heart attack. She hasn't even had a chance to see him, yet."

"A heart attack?" That got to Sally. "I thought only old people had heart attacks."

They had finally arrived at their stop and Anny waited with her answer until they'd gotten off and were walking towards the shopping center.

"Phellippe, that's the brother's name, was born with a weak heart, but they didn't know until he had the attack. He needs a . . . an operation, but is still too young for it. He probably won't even be allowed to go to school until after the operation."

"I never realised rich people can have such terrible problems, too."

Anny nodded. "Especially since the Nocturnes are w . . . really very, very rich. They've got a huge old manor house and everything, but I bet Colleen would give all that, if she'd get her brother cured in return. That's why I want to make her a special Christmas gift."

"But if they're so rich, she's probably got everything money can buy." Sally frowned. "What could we come up with that'd be special to her."

"It has to be something personal." Anny confirmed. "And I have a really good idea, too. Something I know she likes and that has a special meaning between us. And then I'll add some chocolate, because her grandmother won't let her have sweets very often. But I also need a present for Dinah. She's my very best friend and I just can't make Colleen such a special gift and not give anything to her."

"So you know what you want to give Colleen, but not Dinah?"

Anny nodded. "It has to be special, too."

Sally thought about that for a moment. "Well, what does she like? You have to tell me about her, if you want me to help."

"She . . . she's in the Gymnastics club, but just for fun. She's not all that serious about it, I think. She likes Ch . . . Chemistry, but not History or Biology. She says those are boring." Anny started. It was harder to describe Dinah than she'd expected. "She makes friends really easily and knows a lot of people. Even the grumpy old caretaker loves her and she's friends with at least half of Hufflepuff house. Most of them are friends of her family. A really large family. They keep even distant relatives close. Her father's a . . . a doctor and her Mum used to be a teacher, but is staying at home now."

"More rich people, then." Sally stated.

"Well, that's boarding school." Anny shrugged it off. She actually had no idea whether healers were as well paid as Muggle doctors. "They're not nearly as rich as Colleen's family." That much she was sure of.

"Well, she might like a pretty notebook." Sally decided. "She sounds like someone who'd write a lot of letters."

"Yes, she does." Anny exclaimed. "You're a genius, Sally! And she'd probably like a new pen as well. For Tullia, Danny and the boys sweets will do. I'll just have to try to remember which ones each of them likes."

"We could get them some of those decorative gift boxes." Sally suggested. "That's a little more personal than just any box of sweets and the small ones aren't that expensive."

"Perfect." agreed Anny happily.

 

Pank was bored. Not that it wasn't wonderful to see his family again, but there was only a certain amount of times that playing broom catch on toy brooms with two giggling little girls was bearable after over two months of Flying lessons on a real broom.

"Oh, come on Des." he pleaded with the older of his two sisters. "Can't we play something else now?"

"Like what?" nine year old Desdemona Anterhill demanded hovering just high enough that her toes didn't brush the snow.

At least they didn't brush it as long as Desdemona simply hovered or flew straight. In a curve her inner leg stretched a little lower and earlier in the day they'd had a lot of fun drawing lines and even actual pictures into the snow with their feet.

Pank's legs were already so long that they touched the ground unless he drew them up while flying a toy broom and Des only had to lean into a turn. The only problem with the game had been seven year old Priscilla Anterhill, who hadn't even managed to reach the snow with the longest stick she'd found.

Not that the stick had seemed too short to Pank. The problem was that Prissy had had to lean forward on her broom and steer with only one hand which proved to be well beyond her flying skills. After her third fall she'd refused to try again and burst into tears when her siblings wanted to continue the game without her.

Hence the drawing game was out of the question.

Which wasn't all that bad, since Pank's boots were still soaking wet anyway.

"Lets play Potions class again." Prissy suggested. "Brewing's fun."

Pank suppressed a sigh. Somehow throwing bits of parchment into a mug of water and stirring it with a teaspoon didn't seem nearly as appealing to him, but at least as Professor Snape he got to tell Prissy to shut up without getting scolded for it by his mother. After all he was only pretending to be a stern teacher.

"Okay, but we have to go inside for that." then he could take off his shoes and dry his feet by the fireplace while the girls 'brewed'.

"Great!" Prissy yelled and scrambled off her broom falling face first into the snow.

Since this time she'd meant to get off she didn't cry over her fall.

"You're supposed to land your broom first." Pank admonished her.

"And take it back to the shed." Des added seriously.

Prissy pouted, but plucked her broom from the air and dragged it behind her towards the shed. "But it's much faster to just jump off. I don't like landing."

"You have to learn, though." Des ordered.

"Why? If I can just jump off anytime I want to ..."

"You can't." Pank interrupted her. "You'll hurt yourself."

"Won't." Prissy declared. "I always jump off and I've never gotten hurt."

"Not true." sang Des, but Pank wasn't listening to her.

"You won't be able to jump off a real broom in mid-flight." he explained to Prissy. "It goes a lot higher and faster and the ground at Hogwarts isn't nearly as soft as the snow. If you don't know how to land your broom, you'll end up like Gangolf."

"Is true." Prissy snapped at Des. "What happened to Dandolf?"

"Oh, and what were you crying about earlier?" Des challenged.

"Gangolf." Pank corrected. "With G."

"That was when I fell. Not when I jumped." Prissy insisted, threw her broom into the shed and looked up at Pank expectantly. "So what about Gandolf?"

Pank handed his broom to Des who laid it neatly onto its shelf next to her own. "Well, Gangolf couldn't land his broom. So in our first Flying lesson he ended up ramming the handle into the ground and fell face first onto the stone."

The girls looked suitably horrified, so Pank decided to continue his embellished story of Gangolf's suffering. "He bled so badly that a teacher had to carry him to the hospital wing."

"Carry?" Des asked slightly doubtful.

"Well, Gangolf was afraid of being levitated in that condition." Pank declared. "Thankfully the nurse, Madame Pomfrey, has a lot of experience treating flying accidents and managed to heal him in time for the next morning's classes. But that's not all, you know. In the next lesson Gangolf still didn't know how to land."

"Oh, what happened?" Prissy squealed eagerly.

"Well, he skimmed along at about the height toy brooms fly instead of landing and then he slammed right into Colleen and they both fell to the hard ground." Pank demonstrated with his hands. "You see, Colleen's a good flyer and knows how to land so she had landed right where she should, and Gangolf should have landed somewhere behind her. So when he shot on past his landing spot he just couldn't avoid her. Now, Colleen hurt her shoulder and got very angry and hexed him."

"That's mean." Prissy complained.

"Yeah, she shouldn't have done that." Des agreed.

"Well, maybe not, but Colleen's a very mean witch." Pank explained. "Her grandfather was a Death Eater and her parents have been teaching her curses and hexes since she could hold a wand. So when Colleen gets angry, she's really dangerous and Gangolf was lucky to get away with a bad hex instead of a dark curse."

They'd reached the house now and Pank began to pull off his boots.

"And then the next time Gangolf tried to land a broom, the broom turned over and threw him off."

"Pank!" Lady Anterhill glared at her son angrily. "Stop trying to scare the girls. Brooms do not turn upside down to throw off their riders. They're charmed against that."

"Well, not entirely upside down." Pank amended. "But it did turn far enough that Gangolf couldn't keep his balance and fell off. I swear it Mum. He had to go to the hospital wing. And I'm only telling Prissy, because she asked why it's so important to learn how to land her toy broom. After all we don't want anything like that to happen to her."

Lady Anterhill didn't look entirely convinced, but let it slide.

"Well, change into some dry clothes and then come into the saloon for tea. House elf! Tea and cake for the young master and misses! And be quick about it!"

"Yes Lady Anterhill, right away!" the young elf who'd been dusting the paintings in the entrance hall squeaked and popped away to the kitchen to inform the cook.

"You know, Mum, we should be a little nicer to the servants." Pank grinned impishly. "My friend Aterus' only playmate at home is a house elf."

"Go change Pank." his mother shooed him towards the stairs with a fond smile. "My little rebel."

 

"Here, Mum." Dinah handed her mother a neat stack of fresh bed sheets. "Do you want us to take the old ones down with us?"

"Oh, thank you, Sweety." Mrs Laxter smiled at her daughter despite her hectic schedule today. "Jamie already took the laundry, but if you could check whether the towels have already been exchanged ..."

"Sure, Mum, with pleasure." Dinah dove out of the second guest room past her cousin Jerry who was carrying a stack of fresh pillowcases and his sister Tita who'd been entrusted with the blankets for the guests.

Like every year the Laxter family was gathering at their house to celebrate Christmas together and her mother was busy with last minute preparations. All the beds had to be changed as the family was leaving their rooms to the older guests who wouldn't be comfortable on a couch or in a sleeping bag. The younger adults would be sleeping on the couches and on camping beds downstairs while the children would spread blankets and sleeping bags in the basement.

That may sound uncomfortable, but it wasn't at all. In fact, they all loved it. The Laxters' basement was well lit and clean and even had a small fireplace and at night the children had it all to themselves to talk and play in. It was a lot like camping, Dinah thought, only indoors.

The upstairs bathroom was well equipped with fresh towels and sparkling clean so Dinah went down the stairs weaving in and out between the people going up carrying more blankets, pillows, a chair and suitcases.

Suitcases?

"Sam!" Dinah called out to her older cousin. "Who arrived?"

"Great uncle Monty." Sam panted under the weight of the heavy suitcase. "Along with Aunt Elly and Uncle Peter and the kids."

"Wonderful!" Dinah exclaimed and jumped off the last step.

Aunt Elly and Uncle Peter were the parents of Cousin Patricia and Cousin Alexandra who'd be starting Hogwarts next year. They'd probably be excited to hear all about the school.

The new arrivals were nowhere in sight, though, and Dinah went on to check the bathroom.

The towels had indeed been removed, but apparently whoever had done that had forgotten to lay out fresh ones. Well, no problem. Dinah pulled out the little stool that was hidden behind the bathtub. Standing on it she could reach the high cupboard that held the towels.

Maybe it had been Pat who'd taken the towels, she mused as she hung up the first batch. Her little brother was only five and wouldn't have been able to reach the fresh towels.

"Ah, little Dinah." Uncle Peter stood in the open bathroom door. "Come, let me hug you!"

"Hi Uncle Peter! So good to see you!" Dinah hugged him back, but somehow his greeting didn't seem quite as warm as she was used to.

And the rest of her relatives were no better. They all hugged her and smiled, told her how much she'd grown and some even asked how she liked Hogwarts, but it all seemed faked.

Once she even overheard Aunt Allissa whisper to great cousin Maura: "A Slytherin. In our family. I honestly wonder what's wrong with the child."

"Oh, just imagine how her poor parents must feel. And their first one to be sorted as well." Great cousin Maura whispered back. "They must be so worried for the other two."

"You don't think they'll turn out to be Slytherins, too?"

Dinah decided to slip down into the basement to look for the other children. There was a large curtain to separate the girls from the boys, but it was still pulled back and the entire room seemed to be covered in blankets and pillows. One single big nest.

"Hi Patricia, Alexandra!" she called out when she finally caught sight of the twins who were sitting on pillows in the middle of the girls' half with Cousin Mandy. "I completely missed you when you arrived."

The three girls stopped talking and stared at her.

"Hi Dinah." Mandy, a third year Hufflepuff, greeted her. "I was just telling the twins about the cool glass houses at Hogwarts."

Dinah suppressed a frown. She'd just welcomed Mandy half an hour ago, so why was she greeting her again? And why hadn't the twins returned her greeting?

"Oh yes, really fascinating those glass houses." Patricia nodded just a little too eagerly.

So Mandy had lied to her. They'd been discussing her.

"Well, go on then." Dinah managed to say sitting down on the next pillow. "Don't let me interrupt you. I've only been in one of them so far, myself. I'd love to hear about the rest."

Awkward silence.

"Oh, I just remembered." Alexandra gasped. "Patty, we were supposed to help Mum . . . unpack, remember?"

The twins jumped up and raced towards the stairs.

"Help her unpack?" Dinah repeated doubtfully.

Mandy shrugged at her. "Well, I guess I'd better go greet their parents. I'll see you later then."

"Sure Mandy." Dinah sat alone in the empty basement for several minutes before pulling herself together and going back upstairs. There were still more relatives to greet and maybe she could help set up for dinner.

Somehow she ended up sitting between her father and grandfather Albert, who was actually her father's grandfather, for the meal and then none of the eight other girls wanted to take the bed next to hers.

"I'm not sleeping next to a slimy snake!" little cousin Deborah protested so loudly that the boys pulled the curtain back to see what was going on.

"Deborah!" Cousin Sheila, who was already sixteen, admonished. "We don't say such things. It's rude. You hurt Dinah's feelings."

"With your attitude," Cousin Andy remarked with much greater effect. "You're likely to end up a thoughtless Gryffindor."

"Andy!" Sheila gasped exasperated.

"Oh, but it's true." Dinah said. "All the completely insensitive prejudiced self-righteous gits seem to be in Gryffindor. Hufflepuffs are polite and don't badmouth other houses."

Deborah looked sufficiently chastised and several of the older ones wouldn't meet Dinah's eyes after that. So she rolled over to face the wall pulling her blanket over her in the same movement and pretended to sleep.

The talking in the room picked up again after a few minutes, continued for what seemed like forever and then silenced as the other children, one by one, fell asleep. Once it seemed that there had been nothing but soft regular breathing for hours Dinah finally dared to roll over again.

Nobody stirred and she rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling. At least nobody could see the tears running down her cheeks and dripping into her ears and hair.

 

Rupert hummed softly to himself as he fixed another straw star to the Christmas tree. He loved straw ornaments much better than the gold and silver ones his mother sometimes produced with her wand.

Next was a straw angel with a painted smiling face, then another star.

Downstairs in the shop the bell chimed and he heard his mother rush out to greet the customer. Apparently it was another young witch in need of festive robes for some Christmas party. His Mum would most likely be busy for a while as that type of customer tended to be picky and have a hard time making up her mind.

It didn't matter, though. Decorating the tree would take a while as well and if he got really bored Rupert could always go downstairs and offer to help.

There still wasn't any sound from his father's bedroom, but then it was only half past nine. If there had been any noises from there it would probably have meant that his Dad was sick again. Not that Rupert cared whether he was.

No, he didn't. Definitely not. If his father had to get drunk in the evening, it was his own fault, that he was sick in the morning. There was no need to feel sorry for him. If he didn't want to be sick, he could stop drinking when he had enough.

Another chime of the bell.

"Rupert!" So much for finishing decorating the tree. "Could you come down and help me for a moment?"

"Coming." Rupert quickly brushed out his robes, then ran down the stairs.

"Good morning." he greeted the customers politely. "How can I help you, Mum?"

His mother was kneeling on the floor stitching up the hem of the young witch's robe.

"Oh, could you please tend to Mrs Riley? I just can't let go of this right now."

"Of course, Mum." Rupert had long ago learned not to show any dismay at whatever orders he got in front of customers. "What can I do for you, Mrs Riley?"

He hated this old witch. Well, actually he hated the name Riley. The old witch wasn't really to blame. The real culprit was her grandson Thomas Riley, who'd been the biggest bully in Rupert's primary school class. He just disliked the family by extension.

"Hello, Rupert." the old witch smiled at him kindly. She always tried to be friendly to him, though it often turned out more condescending than nice. "What a good boy you are helping your mother mind the shop."

"Oh I don't mind that at all." Rupert lied fluently. "I really enjoy the work and it's probably best that I learn as early as possible."

"So you intend to follow in your mother's footsteps?" Mrs Riley asked pointedly avoiding to mention his father. "Keep the shop going for another generation?"

"Well, I can't say for sure, yet, of course." another phrase he'd learned long ago. "After all I still have years to make up my mind, but if I were seventeen right now, yes, I'd probably decide to join in my parents' business."

"Of course." Mrs Riley nodded. "It is probably a very good idea. An established business with a good name and a lot of loyal customers of your mother will probably continue to come. You'll have a perfect teacher in your mother and time to grow into the business. A very sensible choice."

Rupert nodded. "Exactly. It would be a pity to let all of grandfather's hard work building up the shop go to waste." Time to get back to business. "So what are you looking for?"

"I picked out a gown last week, but it didn't quite fit perfectly." Mrs Riley explained. "Your mother promised to have it done by today."

"Ah, I see." Rupert nodded. "It must be in the back then. If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll get it for you."

Indeed there was a package with Mrs. Riley's name on it in the back room.

Mrs. Riley tried on her new gown, then picked out a pair of gloves to go with it and they moved on to the counter where Rupert calculated the total price.

"It's been a while since I saw you." Mrs. Riley noted while he folded the gown for her and returned it into its bag. "You're the same age as our little Tommy, aren't you? He used to speak of you from time to time, but I don't remember him doing so lately. Are you in a different class?"

"A different school, actually." Rupert admitted. "I'm going to Hogwarts."

"That Scottish school?" Mrs. Riley sounded surprised. "Isn't that very expensive?"

"Not much more than our own school here, but it is an internationally acclaimed school." Rupert's mother interrupted. "So since Rupert has always had very good grades, we just thought we'd give it a try and apply to both places. And when both accepted him, well, a Hogwarts education certainly won't hurt."

"Ah, but the poor boy is still so young." Mrs. Riley looked impressed, though. "Doesn't it worry you that he's so far away?"

"Actually, we thought it might do him good to have to fend for himself and after all he isn't the only eleven year old there." Rupert's mother beamed at him proudly. "And we were right. He has become so much more outgoing and mature. Hogwarts really was the best choice for him."

"And you're sure you're managing?" Mrs. Riley asked suddenly. "Running the shop all on your own. I've never seen even an apprentice in here."

"Oh, but I do have my husband here with me normally. Two people are quite sufficient for a small shop like this most of the time."

"Do you?" Mrs. Riley sounded doubtful, but didn't give them any time to formulate a response. "But I do wish my son had thought of applying to Hogwarts for our little Tommy. We never even considered it might be possible."

"They keep a few spots reserved every year." Rupert's mother explained. "Some go to Muggle borns and we got one of the leftovers. I don't know how many of those they had, or how exactly they picked the students, though. Grades probably."

"Ah yes, and Tommy did slack off a little at the end of that last year. That would probably have cost him his chance anyway." Mrs. Riley decided. "So how many places are there anyway?"

Actually, 'Tommy' had almost failed Math in third year already, but it might not be the best idea to point that out to his grandmother.

"There are forty students in my year." Rupert reported. "Most of them are children of Hogwarts alumni, though. Their places are reserved at birth."

"And how many Muggle borns?" Mrs. Riley wanted to know.

Rupert shrugged. "Only one in my house, but they seem to be more frequent in other houses. There are a lot of students I just don't know that well."

"Well, you just tell us in case one of them leaves and maybe we can send Tommy after you to keep you company."

"That'd be wonderful, Mrs. Riley." Rupert managed to say with a straight face.

"I doubt it's very likely, though." Rupert's Mum added. "Who'd give up a spot at such an elite school like that?"

"Well, maybe we should write to the headmaster anyway. Poor Tommy has been having some trouble with his classmates, you know."

Rupert burst out laughing the moment they were alone again.

"What's so funny?" his Mother asked smiling.

"Tommy having trouble with his classmates." Rupert snickered. "I suppose that means they're not lining up for him to beat up anymore."

"Rupert!" his mother said sternly. "You shouldn't make fun of others like that. I'm sure Tommy doesn't deserve that. Stop fooling around and check whether your father wants breakfast."

Her playful swipe at his head took the bite out of the command, but it was still an unpleasant task. Hopefully his father was still asleep and not awake and suffering from a headache. Headaches always made him grumpy.

 

A/N: Will Aterus ever get to read his snake book? How will her family's reaction affect Dinah? And will Tommy Riley come to Hogwarts?

 

In the next chapter: Billy celebrates Christmas, Colleen meets one of her brother's healers, but not under the kind of circumstances she imagined and Gangolf doesn't want the holidays to end.


	20. Merry Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: When I originally created the A, B, C and D classes for West Hogsmeade Wizarding school I borrowed that system from the Austrian Hauptschule, though I adapted it a little. Just recently when talking about our school system I mentioned that to my friend Ricky and she told me she'd thought I'd taken it from the real British school system. I swear I had no idea they use the same system, but I'm so happy I decided to pick that one despite never having gone to the Hauptschule myself.

Chapter 20: Merry Christmas

 

It was the afternoon of December 24th, but somehow Colleen didn't feel the usual excitement of that day. Tomorrow morning they'd celebrate Christmas without Phellippe.

She hadn't even seen her little brother at all and not been allowed to buy him the book she'd planned to either. At least the drawing of her and her classmates outside Hogwarts had passed her parents' inspection and her father had rolled it up neatly and taken it to the hospital.

He'd later reported that the doctors had run a magical check over it and a nurse had finally handed it to Phellippe who'd asked their father to extend his thanks to Colleen and her friends.

"That was enough excitement for your brother for now." her grandmother had explained. "You can give him a book when you return for the Easter holidays."

"But it's just a tiny drawing and not worth anything." Colleen told the closed window through which she'd been staring out onto the snow covered grounds.

"It was a very nice drawing." her grandmother said looking up from the letter she was writing. "Within the family it can be proper enough to give something made by hand rather than something of great value. Your picture tells Phellippe: 'I love you and don't mind sacrificing a lot of time and effort on you.' Buying a book would have been much easier."

"But it would have helped him pass the time." Colleen sighed. "It won't be a real Christmas without him."

"He'll be back soon." her grandmother consoled her. "Maybe already for Easter."

Colleen nodded. "I guess it's just because I haven't seen him for so long. I don't even want to go back to Hogwarts for fear that I won't be here when he finally returns."

A loud ringing sound interrupted them startling Colleen.

"Visitors." her grandmother stated calmly. "Come, let us go down to the drawing room and order some tea."

Colleen suppressed a slight giggle. This was a little trick grandmother had taught her long ago. It was not proper for a lady to race to the door and gawk whenever visitors came, but nobody could forbid her from happening past the entrance hall on the way to the drawing room and coincidentally seeing who had arrived.

"What a splendid idea, grandmother." she answered seriously. "I'm sure that will distract us from our unhappy thoughts."

They walked down the main stairs in a slow, dignified manner that allowed them as much time as possible in view of the entrance hall.

"I . . . I musts asks Master first, Sir!" they heard a confused house elf squeal. "I cants allows this!"

"Then alert your master, elf." a harsh voice ordered. "We have to talk to him anyway."

"Grandmother?" Colleen looked up at the old witch who'd suddenly stopped in the middle of the stairs. She looked terribly pale all of a sudden. "What's wrong?"

But her grandmother didn't react. She just stood staring at the three wizards and one witch standing in the entrance hall. Aurors, Colleen realised belatedly. The two in the lead were aurors.

"Grandmother?" she tried again sounding slightly hysterical now. "The drawing room? We were going to have tea, remember?"

The aurors had noticed them now.

"We have orders to search the house, Madam." the harsh auror stated.

"Search the house?" Grandmother finally reacted. "Whatever for?"

"That must be the grandmother." the other auror tried to whisper to his superior. "The wife of the one in Azkaban. She's probably had bad experiences . . ."

Colleen suddenly realised that her knees were shaking and she was clinging to the banister.

"There are indications that your grandson's condition might have been caused by dark magic." the third wizard said stepping past the aurors. "We have therefore notified the aurors to help search the house for dark objects."

"Ph . . . Phellippe, no!" Colleen wasn't really sure what exactly was so scary about the thought of her little brother having come into contact with some dark artefact.

"Merlin! Linda, get the child out of here." the wizard, someone from St. Mungo's most likely, snapped at the witch.

"Dark object?" Grandmother had apparently caught herself Colleen noted absently. "Then you should probably start in my husband's former study. We handed in all the dark objects we found after his arrest, but of course we aren't experts. Children are so curious. Phellippe probably dug through the old drawers and found something we overlooked."

The witch was climbing the stairs. "Hi there." she said smiling. "I'm Belinda Herring and you must be Colleen. Your brother has told me a lot about you."

"Are . . . are you a healer?" Colleen guessed trying to pull herself together.

"Not quite." Mrs Herring put a hand on Colleen's shoulder and started to steer her towards the door.

"Where are you taking me?" Colleen shrieked. "I can't leave!"

She turned to look at her grandmother pleading for help.

"It's alright, Colleen." Grandmother stated calmly. "Go with the nice lady from St. Mungo's. I'll come and get you when this business is done."

"The house will be very uncomfortable while the aurors are searching it." Mrs Herring explained. "They have to turn over everything to be sure they don't miss any dangerous objects. It'll be much better, if we go somewhere else for the time. You were just about to have tea?"

Colleen nodded.

"Then, how about we borrow the car and go to this little place I know to have our tea in peace?" Mrs Herring said and transfigured Colleen's robes into an elegant Muggle dress. "There, what a pretty young lady you are!"

Colleen looked down at herself. The colour of the dress was definitely decent, but it barely reached past her knees.

"Are you sure this isn't too short?" she asked Mrs Herring. "My lower legs are showing."

"Oh, don't worry." Mrs Herring smiled at her. "The tights will keep you warm. You aren't used to wearing Muggle clothes, are you?"

"Only for Sports class." Colleen confirmed. "And those are special Sports clothes that wouldn't be proper elsewhere."

Mrs Herring led her to a large, Muggle looking car that had to belong to the aurors.

"What, not used to cars either?" she asked with a slight laugh when she saw how uneasily Colleen sat down on the back seat.

"No, I've only ever travelled by floo or carriage." Colleen admitted. "Well, and train."

"I see." Mrs Herring nodded. "This is a lot like riding a train. Now hold on tight."

The car lurched and then they were in a quiet Muggle town. Colleen stared wide eyed.

"Is this Leeds?" she asked.

Mrs Herring parked the car, then turned to regard her. "No, did you want to go to Leeds?"

"Oh no, this is fine." Colleen confirmed hastily. After all the witch probably liked this place and it would be very impolite not to show it proper respect. "It's just that I've never been to Leeds and I was wondering what it might look like. Is it similar to this place?"

"Not very." Mrs Herring admitted. "Leeds is a big city, while this is just a very small town. Why are you interested in Leeds in particular? Do you have relatives there?"

Colleen shook her head. "Not relatives, no, but I know somebody who lives there. Is this a Muggle shop?"

"Yes, indeed it is." Mrs Herring confirmed. "Do you like Muggle watching?"

Colleen shrugged. To be honest she'd never tried it.

"I don't know any Muggles, but I like Muggle borns." she decided. "At least some Muggle borns."

Mrs Herring sent her a smile that indicated that that answer pleased her. Strange.

"Are you Muggle born?" Colleen guessed.

"My father is." Mrs Herring explained. "I used to stay at my grandparents' quite often when I was a child, though. It's not quite the same, but I do know my way around in the Muggle world."

"Oh." Colleen followed Mrs Herring's example and hung her coat on a rack near the door then sat at the table the older witch chose. Mrs Herring sat and waited quietly while Colleen took in her new surroundings.

"You said you weren't a healer, but you work for St.Mungo's." Colleen finally addressed her after she'd ordered tea and chocolate cake for them both. "Are you a nurse, then?"

"No, not a nurse either." Mrs Herring smiled. "And I don't really work for St. Mungo's, though I work at the hospital most of the time. I'm actually employed by the ministry's social services department."

Colleen frowned at her in puzzlement. "So you're a social worker?"

"In a way." Mrs Herring conceded. "You know what that is?"

"They take care of poor people." Colleen nodded. "But then what do you have to do with Phellippe? He isn't poor."

"Not in a financial sense, no." Mrs Herring nodded. "But your description of a social worker doesn't cover everything we do. We help people with big problems, that we think they can't handle on their own. Very often those problems are of a financial nature, but they can also be health problems or emotional ones."

"So you're there to help Phellippe with his heart." Colleen nodded. "Then you are a sort of healer after all!"

"Close, but not quite." Mrs Herring smiled again. "I'm a child psychologist, actually. That's someone who helps children with emotional problems."

Emotional problems? "Why would Phellippe have emotional problems? He has a weak heart, not . . ." Not what exactly? What were emotional problems?

"Which has completely changed his life." Mrs Herring continued. "He's been separated from his family, isn't allowed to do a lot of things he'd love to and he knows that his life is in danger. That makes one very unhappy and afraid. I'm there to help him cope with those feelings."

"That's terrible." Colleen said. "I never realised he was that unhappy."

"Now, now, no need to get all depressed, Colleen." Mrs Herring looked concerned. "I do think I gave you the wrong impression. Phellippe is feeling a little down sometimes, but he's taking very well to my treatment. He's really a pleasure to work with. My easiest case right now."

"Do you work with a lot of children with sick hearts?" Colleen asked. Maybe this witch could tell her more about Phellippe's medical condition after all. If she spent a lot of time with children having similar problems she must have picked up some healer knowledge over the years.

"Oh no, most of our cases are of a very different nature." Mrs Herring shook her head. "Most of the children I work with have been in accidents, or were attacked and abused. There's a three year old girl who was taken hostage by a dark wizard, for example. She was tortured and won't trust anyone since, not even her own parents who were unable to help her. Then there's a boy who saw his parents die when somebody set fire to their house and my most difficult case right now is a Squib whose parents almost hexed her to death trying to get her to show some magic. And then there's also a small group of children whose parents are in jail. They're mostly easy cases like Phellippe who just need someone to talk to and reassure them that they can cope. But lets not talk about all those sad stories on our afternoon out, okay? We're here to have a good time."

"Then what should we talk about?" Colleen wondered. Right now she couldn't think about anything other than Phellippe.

"How about you?" Mrs Herring suggested. "Phellippe told me you just started wizarding school. Where do you go? London?"

"Hogwarts." Colleen corrected. "London would be much too far away."

"Not if you floo." Mrs Herring returned. "I went there despite growing up in Aberdeen. My mother didn't like the idea of me being in boarding school, you see. Isn't that hard?"

"Well, it was really bad when I learned that Phellippe's sick. Somehow I thought that if only I could go home and see him, it'd be all better, but now that I am home, I still can't see him, so I guess it doesn't really make a difference."

"So being away from your parents so much doesn't bother you?" Mrs Herring asked.

"No, it's nice to be among other children." Colleen declared. It was a trained polite response, but the thought of Anny and Dinah made it feel quite true.

"Hogwarts sorts its students into houses, doesn't it? What house are you in?"

"Slytherin." Colleen beamed. "It's a family tradition."

"Ah yes, the pureblood house."

"It's not." Colleen interrupted before the witch could ask another question. "Most of us aren't purebloods at all."

"Oh? I heard they have no Muggle borns there." Mrs Herring challenged.

"Then you've heard wrong." Colleen declared. "We don't have as many Muggle borns as Hufflepuff, that's true, but neither do Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. My friend Anny, she's the person I know in Leeds, is a Muggle born Slytherin, for example."

"I see." Mrs Herring nodded earnestly. "I suppose the friend who told me that must have been mistaken then. Is Anny a close friend of yours?"

"My favourite friend, actually." Colleen confided. "Though my family don't know. They would probably say she isn't enough of a young lady, you know."

"Because she's Muggle born?"

"I don't know about that for sure." Colleen shrugged. It was probably not a good idea to tell the daughter of a Mudblood that her parents hated Mudbloods. "But my grandmother definitely disapproves of poor people and Anny's family is poor."

"I understand." Mrs Herring said to Colleen's surprise. "Your grandmother grew up in a completely different time. You are probably still too young to imagine it, but the way people think and feel about things changes with time and especially Muggle society moves very fast. The poor Muggles of today are very different from those of your grandmother's childhood, but she will probably always remember them the way she found them when she first came to Hogwarts herself."

Colleen stared at her wide eyed.

"Adult's aren't perfect, you know." Mrs Herring continued. "And I think you're old enough to understand that we all have to accept our friends and family with their flaws. Be tolerant of your grandmother's prejudice, Colleen, but don't let it influence your own opinion of the world as you find it today."

"I won't." Colleen promised proud that Mrs Herring apparently found her worthy of discussing such adult matters.

It was strange how easily this witch managed to explain away a problem that had been bothering her since she'd first gotten to know Anny. So the Muggles of today weren't like the ones her family hated so much anymore. It was okay to be friends with today's Muggle borns then.

"So what about the other children in your class?" Mrs Herring asked. "How do you get along?"

"Well, my other best friend is Dinah. She's pureblood, but from a Hufflepuff family. Then there's Aterus and Tullia, who's part mermaid, and Billy, the son of our head of house. Pank and Rupert are cool, too."

"So there's nobody that you don't like?"

"Gangolf." Colleen stated. "And Danny. But nobody likes Gangolf and Danny's just because she's always mean to me. Then there are the Gryffindors. They are mean as well, but to all of us. It's a Hogwarts tradition for Gryffindor and Slytherin to fight."

"And the other two houses? Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff? Are they mean as well?"

"No, not at all." Colleen laughed. "The Hufflepuffs are really nice. My friend Cam's in that house."

"Cam? That's a strange name."

"It's short for Carmelitta, Carmelitta Weasley. We sit together in our French lessons. She even let me borrow her book, because my parents never got around to sending it."

"Your parents didn't give you all your school books?" Mrs Herring looked surprised.

"Of course they did." Colleen assured her. "Only French is a club and we only got to sign up for those after we arrived. So I had to owl home for the book and with Phellippe's illness they had much more important things on their mind."

"I see. Does it hurt you when more important things keep your parents from you?"

"It's not so bad. I'm used to it. Mother and Father are very busy people and I'm only a girl. Usually Grandmother has time for me, though. I was very worried when she took so long to answer my owls."

They stayed in the small shop for several hours talking and eating wonderful chocolate cake. Colleen had to admit that Muggle cake was quite delicious.

When they finally returned to the car a small barn owl landed on its roof with an exhausted hoot. Mrs Herring untied the little package he was carrying, but held it out to Colleen after only a glance.

"It's for you." she said. "Wrapped in Muggle paper."

"Oh, then it must be from Anny!" Colleen tore the paper open hastily to find two small boxes.

The first one she opened contained colourfully wrapped bonbons and some small pieces of chocolate and the other . . .

"A hair band!" Colleen exclaimed. "With a green and silver ribbon. Look, isn't it beautiful!"

Mrs Herring laughed. "So you like Muggle hair bands, I guess?"

"Oh yes, they look so much better than my normal hairpins. Anny made me one with a green ribbon to wear at Hogwarts and everybody said I looked very pretty with it. But this one is much more beautiful."

"Would you like to try it on?" Mrs Herring suggested. "I could do your hair for you, if you want. There's a comb in my pocket."

"Oh, would you? I'd love that."

So they sat in the back of the car and Mrs Herring combed out Colleen's hair. She was very good at that, Colleen thought. It felt so nice and soothing.

"You have such beautiful long hair." the witch discovered. "I can see why your friends thought you look better with it down. In that bun it's impossible to tell how long it really is."

"It also makes me look nicer, but grandmother prefers the bun. I think it was fashionable when she was my age."

"You're probably right about that." Mrs Herring agreed. "It must remind her of her youth. Would you like me to braid your hair or just tie it together in the back?"

"I'd really love a pony tail, if you don't mind. I love the way it bounces on my head."

"Pony tail it is then. The highest that I can make it." Mrs Herring promised and Colleen soon realised that the adult witch was much better at it than she was.

After inspecting herself in Mrs Herring's mirror she continued to look through Anny's little box and found two very strange items.

"What are these?" They were the same shade of green as the hair band and there was a little silver snake on each.

"Hair clips." Mrs Herring explained. "Muggles use them in place of fixing charms on lose strands of hair they don't want to fall into their faces."

With just a few little changes to her hair the clips fit in very prettily.

Anny's accompanying letter explained that she'd found the clips when she'd gone to buy the hair band and since they were so perfectly Slytherin she'd decided to buy four pairs. After all Danny's hair was much too short for hair clips, but they'd be perfect for the rest of the girls.

"Just like a special Slytherin first year girls uniform." Colleen decided. "Now everybody will see that we're friends."

"Have you sent Anny a gift in return?" Mrs Herring said as she climbed into the front seat and started the car.

"Not yet." Colleen admitted. "I picked one out, but thought I'd give it to her in school."

"You should owl it." Mrs Herring advised. "It's proper to give Christmas gifts on Christmas."

"I'll do that." Colleen agreed. "Right when we get back."

Anny's present was a little toy snake that was enchanted to move and hiss and there was also a book for Dinah, a story about a French witch and her cat. Colleen thought that Dinah would like that one, because her familiar was a small black and white cat and the cat in the book was black as well.

When they got back to the mansion she raced up to her room right away to get the gifts and then back down to the library.

"So, what do you think of the girl?" she heard a voice just as she was about to round the last corner of the stairs before reaching the entrance hall.

Colleen quickly ducked back behind the banister to listen.

"Well, she seems a little stiff for her age and maybe slightly neglected, but I didn't see any signs of abuse." Mrs Herring's voice answered. "She's happy at school, has a normal social life and Muggle born friends. Doesn't look like a dark witch in the making to me."

"Stiff and in Slytherin, though." the other voice pointed out.

"So maybe she is a bit of a snob. These old pureblood families tend to be. She was probably raised into it. She's still a normal, healthy girl."

"We had to arrest the father." the other voice stated in a calm business like tone and Colleen almost dropped her packages in shock. "Kept a whole stash of dark objects in a hidden side room next to his office."

"So the boy probably got into that and accidentally activated something." Mrs Herring argued. "They are both sweet, innocent children. A bit prejudiced against Muggles, but that's normal for pureblood children with little exposure to the Muggle world. The girl actually shows a positive interest in Muggle borns, whom she's met in school. If left alone, she'll probably overcome her prejudice with experience. However tearing her father away like this and right on Christmas on top of it will traumatise her. This was probably her very first experience with aurors. All this is teaching her is that the ministry is her enemy."

"Maybe, but the room was well hidden and safely locked. We're not even sure whether the witches knew about it, certainly won't be able to prove it. It seems unlikely the children could have snuck in unsupervised. I still think the father might have cursed the boy until his heart gave out. You're sure there's no hint of abuse on the girl?"

"As sure as I can be after only one meeting. She isn't even overly afraid of displeasing her parents, Mark."

"Of course some abusers will not physically hurt a girl." Mark returned. "Maybe it was just the boy. He's the heir. Maybe Daddy wanted to 'toughen him up' with some painful curses."

No, Colleen thought frantically clinging to the banister. No, no, no, her father wouldn't do that. He'd wanted an heir for so long. Phellippe was the most precious thing he possessed. He'd never hurt him, never.

"Anyway, we can prove possession of dark objects, maybe even their use. That's more than enough to send him to Azkaban for a good long time." 'Mark' summed up.

"And break up another family." Mrs Herring said bitterly. "Creating two more hurt and angry children that need counselling. It's always the children who suffer most and I can't work miracles. Sweet, innocent children, Mark. I can't erase that kind of pain. All I can do is try to minimise the damage."

"So we shouldn't enforce the law, just because the criminals have children?" 'Mark' snorted. "Where's the justice in that, Linda? This wizard kept dangerous dark objects, most likely turned them against innocent people, maybe even his own family. What kind of example was he setting for those sweet, innocent children? Now they'll know what happens to those who break the law."

"Because the law is cruel and out to get you?" Mrs Herring shot back. "Fear is a bad motivator, Mark. If you'd only destroyed the dark objects, little Colleen would have learned that dark magic almost killed her brother, but the aurors came and saved him from it. Evil dark magic, good aurors. Now instead she'll learn that the aurors came and took her father away. Evil aurors, good father. A father who happens to have owned dark objects. That's the message you're giving here."

There was a loud bang as somebody slammed the front door shut, then a not much less forceful exit, but Colleen didn't pay it any attention. She just sat on the stairs and cried.

 

"Oh, thank you Aunt Sabrina!" Billy beamed at his brand new eagle feather quill. "It's beautiful."

"But you really shouldn't have." Sarah Snape admonished her sister. "Billy's goose feather quill is still fine and eagle is so expensive."

"Ah, but with all those rich kinds at his school, I thought he should have something a little better." Aunt Sabrina returned with a smile. "We don't want our poor little boy to be teased by all those snobs."

"He has to learn to deal with teasing." Sarah insisted. "We had to, too, remember? And we turned out fine. You spoil the children too much."

"It's Christmas." Severus pointed out. "We can afford to waste a little money once a year and I'm sure Billy appreciates the gift and understand how special it is."

"Yes," Billy nodded hugging his aunt. "But you needn't worry. I don't care about the stupid Gryffindors and my friends don't mind the quality of my quill."

"Do you want to switch to West Hogsmeade?" Severus asked. "Today might be a good day to tell Albus and he can't go back on the school partnership anymore by now either."

Billy stared at his father taken completely by surprise. Did he want to go to West Hogsmeade with Jimmy and Isran? It was what he'd planned at the beginning of the school year, wasn't it? The Rakers were there. Miracle Mely might forget to give him his cap, if she never saw him.

But then again he'd met Mely just this morning and knew that she admired Draco a lot. If she forgot his cap Draco could remind her. Jimmy and Isran were in his Sports and Flying classes and Aterus was at Hogwarts.

Of course he'd still see Aterus in Sports and Flying, if he switched to West Hogsmeade, but he'd only see the girls in Flying class. And what about his spot on the Soccer team? West Hogsmeade had a lot of excellent Soccer players, much more than Hogwarts.

"No," he decided. "I have all my friends at Hogwarts. I want to stay with them."

"Just a few months ago you said exactly the same things about West Hogsmeade." Draco teased him.

"But that was before I'd met Aterus and Pank and Anny." Billy laughed. "Back then I didn't know anybody."

"You're sure Hogwarts is fine?" Severus asked once again. "You're happy there? Despite me being your teacher?"

Billy nodded. "It'd be no different at West Hogsmeade. I don't think they'd tease me any less for being a teacher's brother than for being a teacher's son."

"You could switch to that school in London." Cathy smiled snuggling closer to Draco.

Billy had to smile as well. Cathy and Draco were both wearing the jumpers Aunt Sabrina had given all three of them last Christmas. His mother had said they looked like siblings back then and Billy almost regretted wearing a different jumper today, but then Cathy was part of the family anyway, or soon would be.

Billy slipped over into their couch and snuggled up to Draco's other side.

"I love you." he said. "You're the best family in the world."

"Indeed." Draco confirmed. "We're so lucky to have a family like that."

Sarah snorted. "Nonsense, we're just any average family."

"But you are a family." Cathy said softly. "A real complete family. Do you realise how many people don't have that? Families without a father, without a mother, families who don't get along, . . ."

"We, Cathy." Sarah reminded her. "It's your family, too."

"And that." Cathy stated. "Is the best Christmas gift of all."

"How can that be a Christmas gift?" Billy wondered. "You've been part of the family for years."

"Because that's the only Christmas gift." Draco explained. "Family is what Christmas is all about. All the other gifts are just symbols of our love for each other, just gestures of gratitude for having each other."

"And that," added Sarah. "Is why it's not important what you give. A Christmas gift doesn't have to be expensive or special. It's the love the giver and the receiver have for each other that makes it special."

"Family!" confirmed Hugin happily.

"Caw." commented Munin and continued to groom Hugin with his strong black beak.

Billy smiled at them. "We've got a really big family. They're part of it, too. And the dog and the cat."

Yes, Cathy was right. The family was the best Christmas gift of all and one everybody could afford. It took so little to have a perfect Christmas.

 

Gangolf sat on the edge of the big double bed he shared with his mother and stared morosely at his open trunk. He should be packing. In only two days he was supposed to return to Hogwarts.

But he didn't want the holidays to end! He didn't want to go back to that terrible school. He hated the place and if he left, his beloved Mummy would be all alone again.

Of course his aunt and cousins would visit her from time to time, and maybe his father would spend a night once in a while when there was a party at the office. He never apparated when he'd drunk alcohol and his flat was too far away to walk.

Still he knew that his Mummy missed having somebody there when she got home from work. Someone she loved, not just a guest.

Gangolf had accepted long ago that his parents no longer loved each other and lived their separate lives. To the outside they pretended that everything was okay, of course, but Gangolf knew they were doing that only for propriety's sake.

And for him, of course. Even though he rarely saw his father Gangolf knew that Dad took an interest in his future. He even paid half of his school money. And he sent him gifts for his birthday and for Christmas every year.

A divorce was bad for a child his father had read somewhere, so he had convinced his Mummy to stay married.

But Gangolf knew that his Mummy was lonely when he was away. She needed somebody to really be there, not just a husband on a piece of parchment. It might have been easier, if she'd had some really close friends, but she didn't quite get along with the people at the office and had given up all her old school friends when she'd married his father. Dad was a jealous man.

Or at least he had been when he'd still loved Mummy. Now he didn't really care where she went or who she went there with, but Mummy still felt that she was cheating on him, every time she went out with another man and well, if she did so too often, it might get out that his parents were no longer together and that was something to be ashamed of.

Gangolf didn't really understand why it was so bad, but he knew that it was. Parents were supposed to love each other. Everything else was wrong, so you mustn't let anyone know.

Gangolf sighed deeply. He should be packing that trunk.

"Is something wrong, Baby?" His mother asked gently from the door. "Why so sad?"

She came over and sat beside him stroking his hair.

"I just don't want to go back to Hogwarts." Gangolf admitted. "I don't want to be away from you."

"I don't want you to be away either." Mummy admitted. "But you have to go to school, Baby. How else are you going to become a big powerful wizard?"

Gangolf sighed again and put his arms around her. He breathed in her beloved perfume and tried to give her a brave smile.

"I know." he told her. "I just wish it wasn't so long until I can come back to you again. If only Hogwarts would let us go home for the weekend, it would be a lot easier. One week I could take, but Easter's so far away."

"It's the best school in the country." his Mummy reminded him. "That's why Dad picked it for you. He wants you to get the very best education and not have to deal with the common rabble that goes to the public schools."

"I know." Gangolf confirmed once again. "But thanks to that stupid school partnership I have to deal with the common rabble anyway."

"School partnership?" Mummy asked. "What school partnership?"

"Oh, that's what they call that weird deal because of which we have to go to West Hogsmeade for Sports and Ballet and their students come over to Hogwarts for Flying class."

"West Hogsmeade!" Mummy gasped. "Those no good, lazy criminals?"

"Their children." Gangolf amended.

"Abusers of the kindness of the ministry." Mummy continued. "Living off the social services department's money . . ."

"How can the ministry tolerate such a dangerous experiment?" she asked a little later. "What if those monsters kill a student? Doesn't the headmaster realise how dangerous that is?"

"Don't worry, Mummy." Gangolf tried to calm her. "They're actually less dangerous than the Gryffindors and you know how well I can handle the Gryffindors."

"Oh, and all this time I thought you were exaggerating in your letters." Mummy shook her head in despair. "My poor Baby. Mrs Andrews, that exchange worker from America, told me that wizarding school had become so terribly violent, but I didn't believe her. I thought it was only those terrible undisciplined spoiled American teenagers. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that it really might be as bad as she described, or that anything like that could happen here in civilised Britain!"

"It's a terrible thing." Gangolf agreed. "But don't worry, Mum. I'm a great fighter and know how to defend myself and I'm staying away from all the bad children."

"Oh, but that you have to share a dorm with such people. What was the name of that aggressive boy again, Bobby?"

"Billy, Mummy. Billy Snape."

"He doesn't sleep in the same room you do, does he?"

"Yes, he does." Gangolf confirmed. "But he isn't as dangerous as the Gryffindors. He just grew up in West Hogsmeade with all those bad children. I guess they were a bad influence."

Mummy frowned. "If he's from West Hogsmeade, how can he be going to Hogwarts? Can he really afford that?"

Gangolf shrugged. "I think he said something about having a scholarship from the headmaster."

"Is he such a good student, then?"

"Well, he's best at Potions. He actually assists with teaching that class sometimes." Gangolf admitted. "And he got on the first Soccer team right away. He's complete rubbish in Transfigurations, though."

"Then maybe his scholarship's for one of those subjects." Mummy decided. "The school might be trying to build up a Soccer team and I heard that they are famous for their excellent Potions classes."

"Yes, those are pretty hard. Billy is the only one that's finding them easy." Well, him and Tullia, but Mummy didn't have to know that.

"A Potions prodigy, then." Mummy decided. "But I do worry about you having to sleep in the same dorm as some lazy unemployed's brat."

"His parents both work." Gangolf felt obliged to point out. "And he hasn't actually hurt me. You don't need to worry."

"But I do." Mummy told him. "You're my Baby and I always worry when you're not with me. Oh, how I wish Hogwarts wasn't a boarding school."

His Mummy then helped Gangolf to pack his trunk and afterwards they went into the kitchen where Gangolf watched her cook dinner. They tried not to talk abut school on one of their last days together, but somehow the topic kept sneaking back into Gangolf's mind and from the sad look she occasionally got he knew that his Mummy was still thinking about it as well.

Oh how he hated to worry her, but what could he do? It was impossible to completely hide his unhappiness from her.

"Baby," Mummy finally made a decision during dinner. "I have an idea, but you have to make up your mind right away."

It wasn't a hard decision when he heard what Mummy had thought up, though. He loved her idea. Now all they had to do was convince Dad and Mummy thought that once Dad heard about the school partnership that wasn't going to be that hard. All they had to do was floo him right away and explain their idea.

 

A/N: Will her father's arrest really make Colleen go dark? Did Billy make the right decision? And was Gangolf's father really thinking about his son when he convinced his wife not to get a divorce?

 

In the next chapter: The students return to Hogwarts, Rupert worries about his secret possibly getting out and Billy is handing out invitations.


	21. One Student Too Many, One Too Few

Chapter 21: One Student Too Many, One Too Few

 

Rupert felt completely exasperated by the time they finally reached the train station in Aberdeen. Glaring at the boy that was following him like a lost puppy he declared that he had to go look for his friend Dinah now.

"Okay," Thomas Riley agreed. "I'll help you."

It was almost ridiculous the way the taller and heavier Thomas was clinging to Rupert.

"You don't have to do whatever I say, you know." Rupert hinted. "As long as you stay on the platform you can't get lost. All you have to do is board the next train that arrives and it'll take you to Hogwarts. You're not dependant on my guidance from here."

"Yes, but you're the only person I know in all of Scotland." Thomas returned. "What else would I do? I can make myself useful. What does your Dinah look like?"

"Uh . . . like Dinah?" Rupert definitely wasn't good at describing people. "Black hair. Probably with a whole bunch of Hufflepuffs."

Thomas nodded. "And what do Hufflepuffs look like?"

Rupert shrugged. "Like really nice people, I suppose."

He suppressed a wince at the sound of that answer expecting Thomas to tease him about it, but the bigger boy apparently swallowed his comment. Just how lost did the bully feel?

Much to Thomas' embarrassment his grandmother had told Rupert that he'd never travelled out of Ireland without his parents before and would need Rupert to watch out for him and show him around, then entrusted him into Rupert's care, much to Rupert's dismay.

Of course it had been nice to get a lift to the port key station and not have to take the train there, but he still couldn't stand Thomas and the thought of having his most hated bully at Hogwarts with him only made things worse. Why, oh why, had headmaster Dumbledore decided to accept another student in the middle of the school year?

Hopefully Thomas would be sorted into Gryffindor. Then Rupert would be rid of him. Thomas would never risk a 'friendship' with a Slytherin, if his house mates disapproved. He liked to be popular.

Then again, Thomas knew about his father. Rupert didn't even want to think about the consequences, if the Gryffindors found out. And they would find out now that Thomas Riley would be going to Hogwarts. No matter what house Thomas would get sorted into, sooner or later he'd tell somebody and that person would tell somebody else and soon the whole school would know.

"The Hufflepuffs are really important, you know." he informed Thomas. "They're known as the nice house, the ones who are friends with everybody. The only people they don't like are dark wizards. So, if you're unpopular with the Hufflepuffs, everybody else is going to distrust you."

"And that Dinah's close with them?"

"Dinah's from a Hufflepuff family." Rupert confirmed. "She knows almost everybody in that house. If she were to warn her friends away from you, oh I think the whole house would know in less than an hour. They're very social like that."

"But Dinah's your friend, so if you tell her that I'm your friend, then she'd tell her friends what a sweet guy I am and . . . "

"Oh, I don't know." Rupert said. "I mean, you've been really nice, today, yes, but does one day spent together already make us friends? After all, in our old school you always used to tell people you wouldn't be caught dead with me, because you despise my father so much."

"But that was ages ago." Thomas almost whined. "We're much older and more mature now. I mean, at our age, who still cares about their parents?"

"Oh, some of our classmates are from really old families, you know." Rupert informed him. "They care a lot about their ancestors and their good name and people who tell tales about other people's relatives . . . "

"Okay, okay, how about this:" Thomas offered. "I don't tell anybody about that old little story with your father and in return you introduce me as your friend?"

"Not quite fair." Rupert declared. "I have to do something while you only have to not do something. I've got a better idea. You don't tell about my father and I don't tell about the way you treated me in primary school. Dinah just hates bullies, you know."

"I'm not a bully." Thomas protested.

"Then prove it by not acting like one." Rupert grinned at him. "Ah, there's Hermy. She's one of Dinah's friends. Hey Hermy!"

Hermy shot around to face them and smiled widely when she recognised Rupert. "Hi Rupert! How was your holiday?"

"Great, though I missed all my friends here." Rupert returned. "Yours?"

This was perfect. Hermy was surrounded by a whole group of other students, many older than her, making it obvious that she was popular and she'd even called him by his name and shown an interest in him. That should convince Thomas of the power behind his threat.

"Wonderful. We had this great Christmas party at home and then just the day before yesterday Nina's birthday party with almost everybody there. Apparently Dinah couldn't make it, but Jorge took lots of pictures. Stop by our table at breakfast tomorrow. I should have copies by then."

"Thanks, Hermy, I'll do that." Rupert beamed. Perfect, absolutely perfect! "But first I have to say hi to everybody else. Have you seen Dinah, perhaps? I can't find her anywhere."

"Not yet." Hermy returned. "Maybe she's sick? That would explain why she wasn't at the party."

"Oh, I hope not. If she's too sick to take the train today, how is she going to get to school?"

Hermy looked worried for a moment, but then shrugged it off. "I'm sure there's a way. Just because the Hogwarts Express isn't going doesn't mean there aren't other trains to Hogsmeade and she can always get a port key or floo into the town. One of the carriages could meet her there."

"It's not that far." Rupert reminded her. "Billy lives in Hogsmeade and he walked home for the holidays."

"Really?" Hermy asked. "I didn't know the Snapes live in Hogsmeade. Do you know where their house is? Anywhere close to McGonagall's?"

"I don't think so." Rupert had no idea where McGonagall lived. Who'd want to know that anyway? "They live in a flat in West Hogsmeade, somewhere close to where Isran and Jimmy live. They went to primary school with Billy."

"I see." Hermy sounded a little disappointed. "McGonagall lives somewhere in the center, I think. Definitely East of the river. Say, who's your friend?"

"Who?" Rupert pretended to not understand at first. "Oh, that's Thomas. He's new. We went to the same primary school, so I'm showing him around a bit."

"That's nice. Hi, Thomas." Hermy smiled at the boy.

"Hermy, there you are!" a blond whirlwind descended upon them a second later. "Hi, Rupert. Mind if I borrow her for a moment."

"Hi, Lulu." Rupert greeted the second year Hufflepuff who was already dragging Hermy away.

Thomas blinked. "Lulu?"

"I think her name's Louisa or something." Rupert confessed. "She's a second year, so I don't really know her."

"Well enough to greet her by name." Thomas pointed out.

"Yeah, but everybody knows her name. She always whirls about like that, you know. Makes her hard to miss."

"She knew your name, too."

"Yes, so she did." Hah!

Dinah arrived late and looking slightly depressed, but with Thomas right there next to them when she jumped aboard the train Rupert decided not to ask her what was wrong. Instead he complimented her new hair clips, which turned out to have been a Christmas gift from Anny.

"Very Slytherin." he declared.

"That's why Anny chose them." Dinah confirmed. "She said Tullia and Colleen would get the same."

"I got some Muggle sweets from her." Rupert told her. "Unmoving chocolate and bonbons that stay the same colour when you eat them. Really cool."

"So, which way to Tullia's compartment?" Dinah asked realising that they were blocking the way for everybody else.

Rupert shrugged. "I didn't see her. Maybe she's in one of the first coaches. Those went by us much too fast to see. Or maybe I just missed her between all those other people. We'll just have to look in every compartment until we find her."

And Thomas still trailed obediently after them through almost the entire train until they finally found Tullia and started a new round of 'How was your Christmas?'. Dinah soon cheered up when Tullia put on her new hair clips and they were talking happily when Colleen joined them in Dundee.

Rupert was just about to ask her about her Christmas when Dinah elbowed him in the ribs and shook her head at him indicating that something was wrong and he should let her lead the conversation.

Meanwhile Tullia had inquired about Phellippe and Colleen launched into an explanation of why she hadn't been able to see him, but he'd loved the picture the girls had drawn for him.

"And his heart is recovering, too." she reported. "If all goes well, he'll be allowed to come home in a few weeks."

"That's wonderful news." Dinah said. "And I see you got Anny's hair clips as well."

"Yes, and the hair band's from her as well." Colleen nodded. "I forgot to owl this, by the way. I meant to send it on Christmas, but then the aurors came and . . ."

"That's okay." Dinah assured her hastily. "I didn't expect you to remember with everything being so hectic for you this year. You don't have to apologise. . . . Now what could this be? It's rectangular and hard. Maybe a box of chocolates? Ah, but it doesn't rattle. Maybe it's a mirror then? Or . . ."

She made a big show of unpacking Colleen's gift and exclaiming how cute the kitten on the cover of the book that turned out to be inside was, then started to talk about school and seeing all their friends again. Tullia started guessing where Anny was right now.

Rupert played along, pointing out that the southern train had to at least have passed Newcastle by now, perhaps even Glasgow, while he became more and more uneasy inside. Something was definitely wrong with Colleen. She looked like she'd cried and everybody was avoiding the topic of Christmas. If she hadn't already said that Phellippe had gotten better, he would have thought that her brother had died. Hopefully he'd manage to catch Dinah or Tullia alone later so he could ask them. Apparently they both knew what was going on.

 

Danny half lay in her seat with her feet on the opposite bench reading a Quidditch magazine and chewing bubble gum when the Hogwarts express finally rolled out of Kings Cross station. Gangolf hadn't shown up, yet, so she was alone in the compartment.

If it had been anybody else, Danny might have felt annoyed and bored, but anything was preferable to Gangolf's company. Maybe, she thought as she flipped another page, he was playing 'beautician' with the Hufflepuff third year girls three compartments down the corridor. Apparently one of them had discovered make up during the holidays. It would probably be just Gangolf's thing to demonstrate the finer points of lipstick application to them.

Danny frowned in disgust before returning her attention to the introduction of the latest broomstick model. Not that she found this particular broom much to her taste. It looked much too frail to withstand a serious game.

They were almost five minutes past the stop in Birmingham by the time Pank found the compartment. Maybe Danny ought to have remembered to look out for him when the train had stopped and signalled him. Then again he didn't seem to mind her thoughtlessness.

"Where's Gangolf?" was his biggest worry after they exchanged greetings.

"No idea." Danny shrugged. "And who cares anyway?"

Pank sighed. "What did you do to him, Danny?"

"Nothing. I honestly haven't seen him. Maybe he's riding with some friends from another house."

"What friends?" Pank asked.

"Barbara?" Danny suggested.

"I thought they're over." Pank reminded her.

Danny shrugged again. "Maybe they made up."

"I'll check the rest of the compartments." Pank decided and got up. "I've seen most of them already anyway."

"Do you have to?" Danny frowned, but Pank was already walking out forcing her to return to her magazine, which was getting seriously boring by now.

The gum had lost its taste as well, so she spit it out and stuck it under the bench before tearing out a page of adds to fold a paper aeroplane. The dancing every flavour beans squealed a protest against such treatment, but Danny ignored them.

Pank took his time returning, so Danny decided to search her trunk for a second bubble gum. Instead she found her gobstones, but without someone to play with it soon got boring.

Pank finally came back together with Aterus while the train was waiting in Nottingham. He hadn't found Gangolf, nor had any of the people he'd asked seen him.

"Maybe he's getting on at a different station." Aterus suggested. "He might have been visiting family in a different part of the country."

"Maybe his Dad." Danny suggested from under the bench where she was groping for a missing gobstone. "From what I overheard his Mum say they're separated."

"He never said so." Pank remarked.

"Maybe he doesn't like to talk about it." Aterus said. "It might hurt too much."

Danny shrugged. "Who cares? Lets play gobstones."

"On a moving train?" Pank shook his head. "No way. That's dangerous. Lets pack them away before someone slips and gets hurt."

"Then what are we going to do?" Danny demanded.

"How about a guessing game?" Aterus suggested. "Guess what I had for breakfast."

It was a thoroughly ridiculous game, but it helped pass the time until the witch with the sweets cart passed through, after which the chocolate frog cards kept them busy until Anny got on in Leeds.

"Have you heard from Colleen?" she asked the boys. "She didn't answer my owl."

"You mean you don't know?" Danny couldn't believe it. "It was all over the Daily Prophet."

"What was all over where?" Anny asked completely clueless.

Luckily Pank got the picture. "That's a newspaper."

"Newspaper?" Anny gasped. "Colleen was in the papers?"

"Not Colleen, but her family." Aterus explained.

"They arrested her father." Danny continued eagerly. "There was a raid at their mansion and they found all sorts of dark items. The Prophet said he was teaching his children to use them and that's how the boy got his heart attack. Had to watch his father conjure a demon, or murder somebody or something like that."

"Nonsense." snorted Pank. "If he'd killed someone, they'd have arrested him for murder, not possession of dark objects. He probably just showed off his collection and Phellippe got in the way by accident."

"Or maybe . . . " Aterus started.

"Maybe we ought to ask Colleen what happened." Anny snapped silencing the boys. "The paper might have it all wrong. It could all be a mistake and her father innocent."

"Oh, you don't really believe that yourself, do you?" Danny snorted. "The Nocturnes are dark. Always have been, always will. Colleen's grandfather's in Azkaban for life."

"Colleen still hasn't done anything." Anny reminded her. "She's my friend and loves her little brother. Even spoils her owl. What's wrong with that?"

"She's a Nocturne." Danny declared. "Just wait and see."

"Danny!" Pank admonished. "Stop provoking Anny. Anny, sit back down! Really!"

Both girls glared at Pank, but obeyed.

"Spoilsport." grumbled Danny.

The atmosphere in the compartment remained rather strained for the rest of the journey, but then they got off the train and for the first time took the horseless carriages to school.

"This is so cool." Anny declared as she climbed into the carriage.

"It's weird." Danny countered. "Just plain weird. How can something move without even a driver?"

"Magic, of course." suggested Anny and Aterus right away.

"It's just wrong." Danny insisted. "Taxies, cars and coaches require a driver."

"How Muggle of you to think so." Pank laughed. "Who is the Muggle born in here, anyway?"

 

There was lots of talking and hugging in the great hall as the students returned from the holidays and those who'd arrived on the northern train were reunited with the ones from the south. Billy hardly managed to fight his way through the crowd to his usual seat.

When he finally got through he found everybody crowded around Rupert.

"What's going on?" Billy asked his friends.

"They've accepted a boy from my old school to Hogwarts." Rupert replied morosely. "And Gangolf's missing. I bet they'll put him in his bed."

"Rupert doesn't like Thomas." Tullia translated. "He doesn't want to share his dorm with him."

"I don't even want to be in the same school as him." Rupert corrected. "My parents picked Hogwarts so I could start over with new people."

"So what?" asked Pank. "He's just one person and you don't have to be best pals, if you don't want to."

"Yeah," confirmed Aterus. "He can be Gangolf's friend. Maybe then they'll both be happy."

"Gangolf's not even here." Dinah pointed out. "You can't just decide that for him."

"Gangolf ought to be happy to get any friend." Danny pointed out. "He'll like him. It's whether Thomas will like Gangolf that worries me."

"Why are they accepting a new student in the middle of the year, anyway?" asked Anny. "I thought there was a limited number of places."

"Maybe they kicked Gangolf out." Colleen suggested. "For dangerous flying."

"Why does Thomas want to switch schools now?" Pank asked. "Hasn't he only just started at another wizarding school?"

"He got expelled." Rupert smirked. "Too many detentions for bullying his fellow students and beating up a girl."

"That's rather harsh." Anny wondered. "How many detentions can he have gotten in only four months?"

"The girl was the headmaster's eight year old daughter." Rupert explained. "Dear Tommy never was particularly smart."

"Then maybe he's been accepted, because the headmaster feels sorry for him." Billy decided. "Uncle Albus always had a soft heart."

 

Meanwhile Thomas Riley was following a stern looking witch into what she explained was called the great hall.

Rupert, his only comfort in this foreign country, had handed him over to a terrifying old man the moment they'd gotten off their horseless carriage saying that this was the school's caretaker. The man hadn't even smiled!

Instead he'd grabbed Thomas' arm and pulled him into a side passage. Thomas hadn't dared to ask where they were going and soon had been completely lost.

In the end they'd arrived at what looked like a teacher's office, though and he'd been handed over to the strange witch.

When he'd once again been led through unfamiliar corridors full of ancient portraits and suits of armour, Thomas had finally dared to ask for a destination, though the answer didn't help him much either. What and where was the great hall? And where, oh where, was Rupert? Thomas wanted nothing more than to go home.

Then the witch opened a door and a wave of noise washed over him. The great hall was full of what seemed to be thousands of students. Hogwarts had to be much bigger than his old school.

The teacher led him to a table in the front, which was apparently where the staff took their meals. At one end of the table sat the horrible caretaker from earlier and at the other yet another stern looking witch.

His stern looking witch led him to the middle of the table, though, where one chair was left empty next to an ancient looking wizard who twinkled happily at him.

"Ah, this must be Mr. Riley." he greeted them kindly. "Nervous?"

Thomas nodded mutely. Somehow he seemed to have misplaced his voice.

"No need to be." the wizard assured him. "I'll just say a few words to the students and then we'll sort you into your house and after that you can go meet your new friends. I'm sure they'll be happy to welcome you, don't you think, Severus?"

A dark haired wizard with a hooked nose, who was sitting on the nice wizard's other side, turned towards them in response. He scowled as he looked Thomas up and down.

"I'd say that depends on what house he's sorted into." he finally decided.

"So you think that Slytherin would be inhospitable enough to . . ." the stern witch started.

"No," the dark wizard smirked at her. "Not at all, Minerva. I am merely concerned that your darling Gryffindors might be thoughtless enough to completely ignore a new member of their house. I believe it has happened before."

"It wasn't at all like that!" the stern witch snapped. "The poor girl was so shy, that . . ."

"Minerva, Severus, please." the old wizard lifted his hands towards them. "You're scaring Mr. Riley with your games."

The two teachers glared at each other.

"Don't believe them." the old wizard stage whispered to Thomas. "Those two just love to tease each other. You'll find lots of friends in whatever house you're sorted into, I assure you."

Thomas gulped and nodded, but a little rest of doubt remained. Maybe the wizard just said that to calm him. Rupert had said that Hufflepuff was known as the nice house, so did that mean that the other houses weren't?

Rupert himself was in Slytherin, so he wouldn't be alone there, but what if he got sorted into that Gryffindor house and the dark wizard turned out to have been telling the truth? How was he going to be sorted anyway?

And where was Rupert? He had to be somewhere in the hall, but even when the old wizard stood and called the students to silence he couldn't find him in the mass of black robed students.

He did notice the girl called Lulu at one of the tables, though. The group she was sitting with all looked very nice and some of the students were regarding him curiously. Yes, maybe if he got to be with a group like that everything would be okay.

And then all the faces down there turned to stare at him and the stern witch gestured for him to sit in a chair in front of everybody.

Shakily Thomas walked up to the chair and sat down. A huge hat was placed onto his head.

"Ah, hello Mr. Riley." a disembodied voice said inside his head.

"Wha . . . Who said that?"

"Me, the sorting hat." the voice returned calmly. "I'm here to view your thoughts and determine your house."

"View my thoughts?" That was scary! "My thoughts are mine."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." the hat assured him. "I'll just check where you fit in best."  
"Slytherin would be great." Thomas pushed. "At least I know somebody there. Yes, please, I want to be with Rupert."

"No, I really don't think you'd be happy there." the hat disagreed. "Slytherins need a strong personality, to be able to stand on their own. You like to have confirmation from others, to be looked up to. I made that mistake with another student this year and hear it made him terribly unhappy. Gryffindor would give you the support you need."

"No, not Gryffindor!" Thomas thought. "Not the house that ignores new students. I don't want to be alone."

"Don't want to be alone, eh?" the hat asked. "Well, that excludes Ravenclaw . . . I guess that means HUFFLEPUFF!"

There was some clapping and then the hat was taken off his head. Thomas got up and stood in front of the student body slightly confused. He supposed that he was to join Hufflepuff house now, but where was that? Who were his new classmates?

While looking around frantically he finally noticed Rupert at one of the tables along with his friends Dinah, Tullia and Colleen, but those were Sytherins. He needed to find the Hufflepuffs.

A very tall boy beckoned to him from another table and Thomas decided to ask him for help. At least that would take him further into the group of students where he wouldn't feel so exposed.

 

"Hufflepuff?" Rupert couldn't believe it. "However could a bully like Thomas get into Hufflepuff?"

"Maybe getting expelled has taught him a lesson." Dinah suggested. "He might be all determined to change his ways now."

"Maybe he isn't as bad as he seemed to you after all." commented Anny.

"Or perhaps he cheated the hat." Tullia said.

"The hat might have decided to put him there to learn better from the Hufflepuffs." Pank theorised.

"Nonsense." Danny snorted. "Your big bully's just a common miserable coward. He may talk really big when he knows he's bigger and stronger than you and has a whole gang of friends behind him, but all alone among strangers he's just a pitiful little heap of nerves. He probably whined at the hat about being scared and lonely and wanting friends to hold his hand. Even Gangolf isn't that pathetic."

"Oh, and you weren't nervous at all when you first arrived here?" Colleen challenged her.

Danny shrugged it off. "I'm never scared."

"Well, I was." Tullia admitted. "I was so nervous my knees were shaking when I had to go up and put on the hat."

"Everyone gets excited about meeting a whole lot of new people, but if any of us had been whining about needing someone to hold our hands, they wouldn't be here right now." Danny declared. "Could you pass the peas, please?"

"Sure." Colleen said and moved to pick up the bowl of peas that had just appeared on the table beside her.

But before she could lift it her hand was slapped away.

"Paws off, Death eater!" Miranda from third year snapped.

"I've got just as much right to . . ." Colleen started, but Danny had already jumped up and tore the bowl out of Miranda's hands.

"Hey!" Miranda yelped. "You could have just asked."

"I did." Danny snapped and sat back down with her trophy. "You refused."

"Not to you." Miranda promised. "I just don't want any traces of dark arts in my food."

"What do you think they are? Bacteria?" Billy asked shaking his head. "Dark arts consist of spells and potions. They aren't contagious."

"And anyhow, Colleen didn't do anything." Dinah added.

"Yeah, her parents just owned some object." Anny nodded. "They might not even have know it was illegal."

"Several objects." Danny pointed out. "Hard to overlook all of them, if you ask me. Peas, Colleen?"

Colleen just stared at her for a moment. How did this girl manage to challenge and support her in one breath? And why the hell would she do that?

"Father inherited them from grandfather." she explained while serving herself a generous amount of peas, even though she hadn't really wanted any. "Grandfather had a collection. Father handed over all the really bad stuff to the aurors, but some things were just too valuable to throw away, so he secretly sold that which had no emotional value and locked the rest away safely. Some of those objects have been in the family for centuries, were even made by our ancestors."

"Dark arts." Danny pointed out.

"Illegal things." Pank added.

"They weren't illegal when they were made." Colleen countered. "The law changed a lot over time."

"Most of the possessions of Merlin himself would be considered illegal now." Billy commented. "But they were perfectly fine to use back then. The current law is just overcautious."

"Maybe not that overcautious." Tullia remarked. "Just look what those safely locked away objects did to Colleen's brother."

"Then you could never give anyone a wand, for fear they'd cast a dangerous spell, even if only by accident." Billy argued. "You could never brew a potion, because you might burn yourself, or someone could have an allergic reaction to the vapours. You couldn't drive a car or coach, because you might run over someone, couldn't throw a stone away, because it might hit someone."

"Father showed us those objects." Colleen admitted. "Not to show off, just so we'd know they are there. They are part of our heritage, our history. I guess that was a mistake, because Phellippe must have touched something when he wasn't looking. Maybe he was too young. Maybe father should have waited to show him when he was older and less curious. But that doesn't make father evil. He didn't hurt Phellippe on purpose. He never would! It was an honest mistake."

"Then why did the aurors take him, huh?" Danny demanded. "I suppose you only want to think the best of your Dad, but the ministry wouldn't arrest him, if he hadn't done anything."

"Yes, they would." Billy countered. "The aurors don't make a difference between against the law and evil. Or between intentional and accidental. They have the law and the power behind them and everything else be damned. They're a dangerous lot, the aurors, and one does best to stay away from them as much as possible."

"Billy!" Dinah gasped. "I'm sure your Dad wouldn't approve of you talking like that."

"Oh yeah?" Billy laughed. "Guess who I learned it from. Dad spent his time in Azkaban, too. For spying on Voldemort for Uncle Albus. They sent him to prison for saving lives, Dinah."

"Really?" Colleen smiled at Billy gratefully. "So father's not the only one?"

"Really." Billy confirmed. "A lot of people have been in prison. Some guilty, some innocent and a lot who were guilty, but still didn't deserve what they got."

"Thanks," Colleen said softly. "Knowing that helps."

"My Dad was in prison, too." Rupert admitted to his own surprise.

"He was?" Pank stared at him. "Was he a war hero, too?"

Rupert blushed. "No, nothing at all like Professor Snape. Or Colleen's father. It's a really embarrassing story and I don't like to talk about it."

"Ah, but that's not fair." Dinah declared. "First you make us curious, then you refuse to tell."

"Colleen and Billy both told us." Pank decided. "Now it's your turn."

"And it'll help Colleen feel better." Anny stated. "Won't it, Colleen?"

Colleen nodded.

"Thomas Riley wouldn't per chance know?" Danny asked smirking evilly.

Rupert shuddered. If they went and asked Thomas, it'd all be over. Who knew how he'd tell the story. Not that there was much that needed embellishing in order to make his Father look like a complete idiot.

"Alright." he agreed. "But there's really nothing cool or romantic about it. My Dad isn't a hero or has any grand traditions to maintain. It's just a chain of really ridiculous mistakes."

The others looked at him eagerly. Oh hell!

"So one day my Dad went out with some friends. He had a few firewhiskeys too many and really was in no shape to walk when he decided to go home. So when he realised he couldn't walk straight, he decided, drunk stupid as he was, to apparate instead."

"He splinched?" Colleen asked. "But how did that land him in Azkaban?"

"Not Azkaban." Aterus corrected. "They've got their own wizarding prison in Ireland. It's somewhere underground."

"No, Dad didn't splinch." Rupert admitted. "And he didn't go to The Caves either. No, he had a much worse accident."

"What could be worse than splinching?" Danny asked with a puzzled frown.

"He mis-apparated." Rupert explained.

"He what?" asked Anny.

"Reappeared in the wrong place." Aterus explained. "So what? If he didn't splinch, he could have just tried again, or waved down a bus."

"Or gotten a taxi." Danny added.

"Well yes, he could have." Rupert sighed. "He should have, but being as drunk as he was he just keeled over and fell asleep."

"And?" Pank demanded when Rupert didn't continue for several seconds.

"And he just happened to have landed on the premises of a muggle company that had been closed up for the night and tripped over some alarm spell." Rupert buried his face in his hands hoping to hide his blush.

"Burglar alarm, I assume." Anny corrected. "Muggles don't use spells."

"Well, some sort of alarm anyway." Rupert said into his hands. "The Muggle aurors came and arrested him and he was so drunk he didn't even remember that he could take out his wand and obliviate them. He just let them take him away."

"Policemen." Anny corrected again.

"What?" Colleen asked.

"Muggle aurors are called policemen." Billy explained.

"Whatever." Rupert shrugged. "The Muggles put him on trial and by the time we found out about the whole mess it was all over their papers and too late to cover up. The ministry decided that Dad just had to pretend to be a Muggle, so he couldn't explain how he got in there by accident. The company was surrounded by a big fence and all the doors were locked, so the Muggles thought the only way to get in was to climb the fence, which you could only do intentionally. Dad managed to convince them that it was just some stupid drunken idea and that he hadn't really intended to steal anything, but it was still an illegal break in which earned him a prison sentence. In a Muggle prison."

They laughed. Of course they laughed. After all it had to be the most ridiculous predicament a wizard had ever found himself in.

"Well, why didn't he simply disapparate from the prison?" Anny asked finally.

"Why the ministry confiscated his wand, of course." Rupert explained. "They didn't want any more unexplained appearances or disappearances associated with him in the Muggle papers."

"So he really had to fulfil his entire sentence, even though he wasn't guilty?" Dinah asked.

"Yes and besides getting into several Muggle papers it made headlines in the wizarding ones as well." Rupert admitted. "You can't imagine how embarrassing that was."

"At least nobody called you a death eater for it." Colleen glared at Miranda.

"No, they just called me a Muggle and a thief and just about everything else." Rupert pouted.

"Then they were idiots." Billy declared. "Anyhow, I've got some much more joyful family news. Everybody from the school's welcome, of course, but for you as my friends I have . . ." He dug a stack of white envelopes out of his pocket. "Personal invitations to my brother's wedding." he beamed at them.

"Well, they got a little rumpled." he admitted after a moment.

"Is that muggle paper?" Colleen asked when she felt the unusual texture of hers.

Billy nodded. "Of course. Much easier and cheaper than folding parchment into envelopes and they're prettier as well."

"Cool!" decided Colleen.

"That's during the Easter holidays." Rupert remarked.

"Yes, I suppose you'd have to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, if you want to come, but I promise it'll be worth it." Billy admitted.

"I'll have to stay as well." Anny announced. "You know my parents could never take me to Hogsmeade."

"Then I'm staying, too." Dinah decided. "To keep you company." And then she wouldn't have to see any of her relatives and wouldn't be reminded of how they felt about her.

"Me too." Pank declared. "It'll be fun, if we all stay."

"I can't." Billy shook his head. "I have to help with the last minute wedding preparations."

"And my brother will probably be at home by then." Colleen said. "I have to go home to see him. I'm sure grandmother will let me attend, if I show her the invitation, though. I can take the carriage and train, if someone will meet me at the station."

"We'll do that." Pank confirmed. "Just owl ahead when you're going to arrive."

"Bring your brother along." Billy suggested. "He can have fun with the neighbours' kids."

"He's not allowed to have fun." Colleen reminded him. "His heart."

"Oh, then you'd probably better lave him at home." Billy agreed.

"So now that all that's cleared up, what do we do about Gangolf?" Pank asked. "Do any of you know where he might be?"

"Who cares?" Danny rolled her eyes.

"Yes, we're better off without him." Colleen agreed. "Lets enjoy this while it lasts."

"It's not right." Pank insisted. "Gangolf, however annoying he may be, is our classmate. We are supposed to watch out for him."

"We could ask Dad after we finish dinner." Billy suggested reluctantly. "If there's an official reason, he'll know and if there isn't, he'll have to be informed. Either way we will have done our duty and can leave everything else to the teachers."

Thus it came that Professor Snape found the entire Slytherin first year waiting outside his office door when he arrived in the dungeons about an hour later. Most of the students including Billy looked rather reluctant to be there, though, which caused him to turn to Pank and Danny for an explanation.

"Gangolf's missing." Pank reported immediately. "None of us have seen him since we left for the holidays."

Severus quickly counted heads. Indeed there were only nine of them and he couldn't remember seeing the boy in the great hall.

"Are you sure?" he demanded. "Have you checked your dorm, yet? He might have arrived with friends from another year or house and sat with them during dinner."

"I checked the entire train." Pank declared. "He wasn't there."

"He doesn't have any friends." Dinah pointed out. "Nobody outside of our class wants to be seen with him."

"Then, maybe he wasn't feeling well and didn't want any food." Professor Snape decided. "Billy and Aterus, you two run up to the hospital wing and ask Madame Pomfrey whether she's seen him. I'll check the common room myself."

Feeling slightly annoyed Severus took off for the common room. Missing student alerts right after the holidays were not an entirely uncommon event, though, so he wasn't overly worried. Usually they turned out to be false alarms, though one or two students managed to miss the train every year. Most of the time the students were found in their common rooms, the hospital wing or socialising with friends from another house.

Those who did miss the train usually sent an owl, if they owned one, flooed the headmaster, if they were from wizard families, or took the next train to Hogsmeade, if they were Muggle born. That could sometimes lead to a very late arrival, since the student didn't only have to wait for the later train, but also had to walk up to the castle on a path that was still unfamiliar to a first year.

If Gangolf had been Muggle born Severus would have worried that he might have lost the way in the darkness. A wizard born however should have had a faster way to get here.

The common room was quite busy tonight with students coming and going from every direction, which wasn't really a surprise. It always took the students a while to settle back in and share all their holiday experiences.

Severus caught a prefect by the shoulder as she hurried past him. "Miss Denington."

"Yes, Sir?" she seemed a little surprised.

"I want all the prefects and at least one boy and girl representative of each of the lower years in the common room on the double." Severus told her. "Please spread the word."

"Yes, Sir." the girl confirmed.

Severus led the first year boys up to their dorm. It was obvious that Gangolf wasn't there the moment he opened the door. Nobody had been in this room, yet, at all. All the beds were still neatly made, not a single sheet rumpled. There were no knickknacks lying about and all the trunks stood exactly in line at the end of the beds.

Except one bed had no trunk and it just happened to be Gangolf's.

Severus nodded at the boys, turned around and led them back into the common room.

This time the picture was much more orderly. The students had collected in year groups around the tables and silence fell the moment Severus stepped into view. Pank and Rupert slid onto a bench next to the first year girls.

Severus let his eyes wander over the assembly without saying anything at first. There was still the occasional student wandering in, some looking bewildered at the sight of everybody sitting in silence, but every year was at the very least represented.

"We have a missing student alert." Severus announced finally. "Has anybody seen Gangolf Bartering today?"

Silence. The seventh years were complete and the last of the fourth years had just appeared on the stairs.

"He should have been on the southern train." Severus coaxed. "From the very start in London."

An embarrassed looking Ravenclaw was trying to sneak out the secret door unnoticed. In the back of his head Severus vaguely wondered what she was afraid of. He had more important things to worry about, though.

Two second years came in just as she left and were waved over by their classmates. That completed that year.

Lisa Alters stumbled in with a towel over her wet hair. Apparently she wasn't a fan of drying charms.

"Are there any other missing students?" Severus continued glancing towards the sixth years' table. "Corrinna Aven?"

"Stubbed her toe, Sir. She limped out in a huff. I guess she either went to the hospital wing or is pouting somewhere."

"Maxie Harcourt?"

"Off meeting her boyfriend."

"Calligula Lestrange?"

"Taking a shower."

"Andrew Undercastle?"

"No idea, but I talked to him at dinner."

Billy and Aterus returned looking slightly miffed.

"Madame Pomfrey hasn't seen Gangolf." Billy reported. "What now?"

"Please wait here while I inform the headmaster." Severus decided. "We might have to search the castle."

It seemed to take forever until he returned, but when he did it was with good news.  
"False alarm." he announced to the entire house. "Mrs Bartering owled the school yesterday requesting a copy of Gangolf's student file to be sent to London. Apparently Mr Bartering will continue his education there. His bed will have been removed by this time tomorrow." he added towards the first year boys. "The house elves simply didn't get around to it, yet."

It took a moment for the information to sink in, but then cheers started up at the third years' table and soon the whole house was declaring how happy they were to be rid of the weird boy.

"That's not very nice of us." Dinah commented a little worriedly.

"But he'll probably be happier there." Danny consoled her. "He never fit in with us."

"Colleen will have to sit alone in most classes." Anny remarked slightly worried.

"Maybe the teachers will let us switch seats." Pank suggested. "Or else pull her desk over to attach it to another one."

"It's okay." said Colleen. "I never liked Gangolf anyhow. I'd rather sit alone than with him."

"We'll be an uneven number in Potions." was Tullia's only problem with the change.

"I'll work alone when we have to pair up." Billy decided. "I'm faster than the rest of you anyway. It'll be an additional challenge."

"There'll be more room in the dorm now." Rupert beamed. "And nobody blocking the bathroom for hours."

"It will take some time to get used to." Aterus said.

"Yeah, about five seconds." Danny sneered. "This is the best thing that could have happened to us. Now we've got a perfect group of friends. Right people?"

"Yes!" they exclaimed happily and Gangolf was indeed soon forgotten.

By the end of the year only a few pictures remained to remind people that there had once been ten Slytherin students in the year.

 

A/N: Will Gangolf make friends at his new school? Will the other students leave Colleen alone? And are you mad at me for stopping here? (I know it's not a perfect place, but this story just doesn't have one and I can't go on forever.)

 

In the epilogue: Severus updates his files with some photos, someone's just gotten married and Harry visits the school with his daughter.


	22. Epilogue

Epilogue

 

When Severus Snape had first become head of Slytherin house he'd already been part of the Hogwarts staff for a few years. Long enough to realise that it sometimes became hard to remember a particular student once they'd been out of school for a year or two. And he'd been wise enough to realise that the problem would only increase with the years.

As a head of house, he believed it to be his duty to be able to reproduce at least some information about every member and former member of his house, so he had started to keep files to remember them by.

By now the files filled three rows of the shelf behind his desk in his office. Each of them was dedicated to an entire year of students. Some were thicker, some thinner depending on how successful the individual students had been and how much information Severus had about their further lives.

The thickest of them all would probably require him to start a second volume someday soon, he thought as he took it off the shelf. Or maybe he ought to remove some of the less important contents. It wasn't like it was that thick because of its importance, after all. It had been an average class of students. The only reason he had so much information was his close connection with them.

His son Billy had been in that year and he was still maintaining his friendship with all his former classmates supplying Severus with a regular source of news and pictures.

Yes, pictures. Pictures always helped to inspire Severus' memory which was why he liked to include them in his files.

Like any of the other files this one therefore had four pictures on its first page, each of them showing the year's first years of one house and below them was a list of the students' names.

The Gryffindor picture had been taken during a Quidditch match their house had thoroughly lost making them all look rather downhearted and small. The Ravenclaws next to them were gathered around a library table concentrating hard on some Astronomy chart. Seeing cheeky Lucinda Iterton absent-mindedly chew on her quill or accidentally smear ink all over her face and hands always brought a little smirk to Severus' face.

Below the Gryffindors were the Hufflepuffs chatting happily over a meal, Severus couldn't remember whether it had been lunch or dinner. His Slytherins were assembled in the common room, among them a face that always made Severus stop and frown in confusion for a moment before he remembered the little blond boy.

Gangolf Bartering had left Hogwarts after only three months leaving only a few faint traces in Severus' memory. Hopefully the boy had been happy at his new school. Severus remembered him being quite the outsider of the group at Hogwarts.

On the very next page he found an extra picture of a boy in Hufflepuff colours. 'Thomas Riley entered Hufflepuff house after the Christmas holidays.' the inscription explained.

Slow-witted Tommy had been an abysmal Potions student, Severus remembered, but with the patient help of his housemates he had somehow managed to pass his NEWTs. There was a picture of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins celebrating their graduation somewhere further back in the file in which several other students often hugged Tommy in congratulation.

Next came some pictures of the Slytherin students in their various clubs. Anny dressed up as a Muggle maid for some play, Pank and Rupert waving a sheet of parchment at the camera in Riddles class. Unfortunately the picture was too small to recognise the riddle on the sheet.

Dinah doing a handstand and Danny showing off her cartwheels in Gymnastics, a picture of the school choir performing on Valentines Day. Severus always forgot that Colleen had been in Choir class for an entire year before switching to Art and later Acting.

Aterus playing a West Hogsmeade third year at the schools' chess tournament while a black girl in West Hogsmeade robes was cheering him on despite the angry glances of some fellow members of her own team. Billy conducting an experiment in Chemistry class and Tullia proudly showing off her perfect score at her first Math test.

Then there were pictures from the Sports tournament. The Soccer team in their brand new uniforms, Tullia and Danny frowning as they faced each other on opposing Volleyball teams, Colleen cheering on the Quidditch team . . .

The pictures from Draco and Cathy's wedding filled three pages. The Slytherins seemed to have milled with just about everybody except the Gryffindors on that occasion. There were pictures of them with Huflepuffs and Ravenclaws, with their teachers, with West Hogsmeade students and even one of a grinning Mike Tiller showing Aterus a hovering charm while Filius Flitwick was laughing in the background. Severus never had found out what exactly the joke had been, but it was one of his favourite pictures, a visible proof of the success of the school partnership.

Then came the group picture for second year, this time taken outside the castle. Colleen had asked Severus to take that one for her as she wanted all her classmates to be in it to show to her little brother who'd once again been in hospital after a minor heart attack.

Anny had made the main Soccer team that year and there were several pictures of Colleen showing off her finished artwork. Then Billy and Tullia as Billy showed her how to set up an experiment in Chemistry, Dinah and Anny on the stage, Danny and the boys having a picnic beside the lake while Tullia had a forbidden conversation with the merpeople . . .

Billy showing off his brand new Rakers cap which he finally received during the Easter holidays of that year. Odessa Coldon, a Hufflepuff first year, dragging her best friend Patricia Laxter over to the Slytherin table to apologise to Dinah.

Dinah had had particularly bad luck that the other twin, Alexandra had been sorted into Gryffindor where she'd been taught all sorts of prejudice against Slytherins, which she had promptly passed on to Patricia. The Hufflepuffs had had a hard time convincing her to take Alexandra's information with a grain of salt.

There was a small detail about that picture that Severus would never have guessed, though. Sweet little Odessa, who'd been one of the three best Potions students in her year, just happened to be Gangolf Bartering's cousin who'd once loved to play beautician with him.

The last page from that year held Severus' attention for a while. It was dedicated to a series of pictures taken at a party Dinah had given that summer. The guests had been mostly Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, but there also were a few Ravenclaws and one picture showed Colleen and Jorge with a wide eyed Muggle girl who was listed as 'Muggle friend of Anny' in the inscription below.

Severus frowned at that for a moment, then picked up his quill and put it in brackets. 'Sally Andersen, the future Lady Anterhill.' he squeezed in after it.

Yes, that was much better, he decided.

In third year Desdemona Anterhill had started Hogwarts and joined her brother in Slytherin. She showed up in a lot of group pictures from then on. Not nearly as popular as her brother she'd clung to him in order to gain some status.

A few photos also showed another first year, Gerry Laxter. Dinah's brother had predictably become a Hufflepuff, but he'd still come to his older sister for support a lot during his first year.

Another picture showed the Hogwarts junior Soccer team celebrating their very first victory over West Hogsmeade. Pank was beaming with pride over having scored the decisive goal. He'd finally become a member of the main team after that.

The pictures from the students' first Hogsmeade weekend mostly showed them outside West Hogsmeade Wizarding School and in the market place. Only Pank, Rupert and Colleen were shown in the only picture taken inside the Three Broomsticks, which had become rather unpopular among the Slytherins since Draco's school days.

Colleen, Dinah and Cam Weasley revising for a French test. This one had probably been taken by Anny who hadn't taken the elective class.

The last picture of the year showed Tullia and Danny eating ice-cream at the train station while waving a train good bye. That must have been the year Danny had spent the first two weeks of the holidays with Tullia, then.

Fourth year had a picture of the entire Laxter clan saying good bye to a crying little girl at the train station in Aberdeen. The crybaby had ended up in Hufflepuff with her older brother Gerry, of course. Dinah had been terribly embarrassed by her antics.

There were a lot of Soccer pictures that year as Billy had been moved into the senior team while Anny and Pank had remained juniors for one more year.

Then there was Colleen dressed up as a beggar for her first ever stage performance as she'd only just joined the Acting club that year. There were no pictures of her in Poetry, which she'd also picked up then, but there was nothing much to see in that class, so Severus wasn't really surprised that nobody had thought to bring a camera.

There was a group picture of Billy and Tullia's Alchemy class, though, the largest class Draco had ever taught. They'd been split into two groups after a rather bad explosion had badly damaged the classroom near the end of the year. Luckily nobody had been seriously hurt.

Pank had been forced back into the reserves when he'd become a senior Soccer player in fifth year and there were two pictures that showed him scowling as he watched a game from the sidelines. The scowl might just as easily have been caused by his little sister Priscilla, though, who'd been a first year Ravenclaw that year and together with her friend Miranda Coldon, the little sister of Odessa, had done everything in her power to break the Weasley twins old detention record. The girl should have been a Gryffindor in Severus' opinion and Pank had had his hands full trying, often in vain, to reign her in.

Several pictures of the students revising for their OWLs followed, then a whole page dedicated to the party they'd held in the Slytherin common room after their last OWL exam was finally behind them.

Sixth year started with a picture of Dinah bent over laughing as her cousin Deborah to her shock and surprise was sorted into Gryffindor. The only explanation Dinah had given for her reaction was that 'Andy predicted it six years ago'.

Various pairings of students showed up holding hands, talking or simply smiling at each other on the next few pages. Especially Rupert seemed to have been dating a different girl in almost every picture.

In between all the lovers' photos there was one of Danny staring incredulously at a banner mounted above Argus Filch's office door. The words 'Congratulations on your 100th detention, Danny!' flashed down at her in many colours. Severus still suspected that Argus must have been in on the prank as he hadn't even complained about the students' antics. Whether it really had been Danny's 100th detention Severus didn't know, but he doubted the students had really kept count. Argus however . . .

Another picture showed a much happier Danny and Colleen having an unauthorised broom race during Flying class, both laughing with joy while Professor Hooch rolled her eyes at their antics. It was surprising that neither of the two had ever joined the Quidditch team. Severus had even asked Colleen about it once, but she'd said that she liked her other clubs too much to give any of them up and three were quite enough for her. Danny on the other hand had tried out in second year, but concentrated all her efforts on Volleyball when she hadn't made the team right away.

In the middle of seventh year Phelippe Nocturne had started his first year despite just having turned thirteen. Albus had decided that it was best for him to start at the beginning since he was only one year older than his fellow students, though Severus suspected that the boy would have caught up to second year easily. The sorting hat had picked Ravenclaw before it had settled completely onto his head.

As Phelippe hadn't been able to play much during his childhood, he'd become a real bookworm and an excellent student. Despite his heart being completely healthy after the treatment his mother had insisted that he had to be excused from Sports and Flying classes, which might have proved more difficult for him.

Despite the Gryffindors' teasing Colleen had spent a lot of time with her little brother and almost all the pictures of her showed them together. In Severus' opinion that had probably saved Phelippe who'd been extremely upset at the loss of his father to Azkaban and had occasionally shown tendencies towards dark magic. Colleen's hatred for the magic that had nearly taken his life served as a counter weight for that.

Quite the opposite of those two's relationship had been the one between Dinah and her youngest brother Pat, who'd started his first year in Hufflepuff that year. The only picture of him in this file showed the siblings yelling at each other.

Next followed the obligatory pictures of NEWTs revision sessions and saying good bye to favourite spots in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. As in all the files the last picture taken at the school was a shot of the great hall during the class' last leaving feast. In most of the files that was one of the last pages, but here it was closer to the middle than the end and Severus suspected that a lot of pictures were still to come as the years went on.

The very next page held the announcement of Colleen Nocturne's engagement with Randolph Montrey, which had been in the Daily Prophet less then a week after the end of the school year. Colleen had been very unhappy with her grandmother's choice of husband for her, but a few weeks before the wedding Randolph had called it off after learning that Wendy Carmey was expecting his child.

Severus had put two more newspaper clippings on the page after that dated only two days apart. The first was speculating that Randolph had shunned Colleen due to the shady past of her family and announced that Colleen's chances at a good marriage were as good as lost. The second told the news of how it was Colleen who had left Randolph in favour of the much richer and more attractive Aterus Sorrel, heir to Sorrel Manor.

Actually Aterus had only proposed to his friend in order to prove Rita Skeeter wrong, but the public didn't know that and the fact that Wendy had been both pregnant and socially beneath him ensured that the laughs were on Randolph and not Colleen.

Next followed the wedding photos once again showing all the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. Severus remembered Billy pouting for days after Aterus' choosing Jorge over him as his best man, but all seemed well in the photo that showed Billy and Jorge sitting next to each other and eating wedding cake.

Aterus and Colleen were currently expecting their first child and happy together, even though it hadn't been a love match.

The next picture showed Dinah in her office at the ministry. She was currently employed at the office for magical transportation and fighting her way up the career ladder. Severus hoped that she'd find a husband soon as she had become rather estranged from her Hufflepuff family and seemed to be a little lonely. Starting her own family would probably help her.

A few pictures from various meetings and outings followed, then copies of Tullia's and Billy's bachelors degrees in Chemistry and some pictures of them in their labs. They were both going to take their Masters exam in Potions in a few weeks and Severus secretly hoped to soon have two more Alchemists in the family rather than one.

Several pages later Severus finally reached the end of the file and began adding the latest pictures. First he selected a picture of Pank and Sally at the altar, of course, then one of them dancing, next bride's maid Anny and best man Rupert.

Those two were doing well as well. Anny had started a little shop selling Muggle goods in Diagon Alley and was currently considering expansion while Rupert to everyone's surprise had gone into politics and was currently heading the Irish ministry of magic's foreign office. He still expected to inherit his parents' robe shop someday, but Severus wasn't that sure that he'd really run it himself when he did. He secretly hoped that Rupert would be minister by then.

His schooling at Hogwarts might stand in his way to that position, of course, but on the other hand his connections with Jorge had given him a decisive advantage in getting his current job.

Yes, Jorge too had been quite successful at the ministry, the British ministry, in fact. He was working for their foreign office where his ability to speak both Spanish and French fluently received lots of praise.

The only one who disappointed Severus a little was Danny who didn't seem to be able to settle on a career path. Right now she was working as a waitress, but had told him that she didn't like it much. It was an exhausting job and not that well paid.

She'd added something about wanting to become a professional Quidditch player, but Severus hoped that had been only a momentary idea. He didn't think she had very good chances at being accepted by a professional team after never even playing in her school days and it wasn't something she could do for the rest of her life. Sooner or later she'd get hurt or too old and what would she do then?

Well, Danny was still young. Most likely something would come up.

Severus quickly added the last pictures, picked up the supply list for the next school year which he'd originally come to Hogwarts for and walked out to return home.

As he neared the entrance hall however voices of a man and a girl talking drifted to his ear. Whatever was a child doing at Hogwarts in the middle of the summer holidays?

"But I don't want t go to boarding school!" was the first sentence Severus was near enough to understand.

'Just great.' he thought. 'Another spoiled little brat and I just bet I'll be teaching her come September.'

"Oh, just take a look at it Aphy." the man returned. Just where had Severus heard that voice before? "I'm sure you'll change your mind once you see it. Hogwarts is simply the best school in the world. Everyone loves it."

"I'm not everyone."

She wore her hair spelled green.

Not that Severus had never seen a child with green hair before. It occurred naturally in some non-humans and halfbloods and was currently quite in among the Lions as well as some older teenagers. Severus had come to accept it as a sign of the usual teenage rebellion during puberty.

This girl was too young to explain it away that way, though and there was no other hint of a possible Mermish or elven ancestry.

He finally took his eyes off the girl to glance at her father from his position in the shadow of the staircase and almost groaned. He should have guessed. Who other than Aphrodite Potter would be whining about being granted a chance to visit Hogwarts before even being officially enrolled?

"Oh, come on, Aphy." Harry pleaded. "Didn't you see the huge Quidditch field outside? In a few months you'll be flying there and in second year you can join the house team and . . ."

"There are weird lines on the grass." Aphrodite pointed out. "And ugly net-things."

"What?" Potter was obviously unable to follow the child's thought pattern.

"That'd be our Soccer field." Severus sneered at them both as he stepped into view. "Not all our students are lazy enough to let a broom do all the work for them and call it a sport. Some people prefer a game that really challenges them physically."

"I don't care what it is." Aphrodite declared. "It's ugly and doesn't belong on a Quidditch field."

"But Aphy," Potter almost whined. "Quidditch is played in the air, Soccer on the ground. The Quidditch field doesn't need the grass and the Soccer field has no use for the air space."

"Quite astounding." Severus stated dryly. "You have finally mastered the concept of basic logic, Potter."

Harry shot him an angry glare. Just why the hell was Snape still here. He'd always assumed that the snappish Professor would have gone into Potions research or simply lived off his no doubt huge fortune after the end of the war.

"We're here to see the headmaster." he informed Snape coldly.

"Do you have an appointment?" Snape demanded.

"In fact we do." Ha, take that, Snivellus!

"In that case, I suggest you try looking for him in his office." Snape declared as if to a very slow child. "Good day, Mr. Potter."

"Eww." his beloved little Aphy complained as Snape left through the main doors. "Who's the greaseball?"

"Severus Snape." Harry admitted. "He used to be the head of Slytherin, obviously, but I didn't think he'd still be here. He always hated teaching. Maybe he was just visiting the headmaster."

He took Aphy into the great hall to show her the enchanted ceiling before leading her to the headmaster's office, but she still kept frowning. It was endearing how much the girl wished to stay with her dear parents, Harry thought, but he just couldn't let his reluctance to let go of her stand in the way of her getting the best possible education.

Oh well, Albus would be able to convince her. Albus could convince anyone.

 

In fact, Albus was overjoyed to see them. He offered them lemon drops and tea and proudly told them of their successful school partnership with West Hogsmeade and the success of the yearly sports events they were holding.

"We're even considering contacting other schools about Soccer games." he told them. "Our team has become quite good, we believe and West Hogsmeade has been playing Muggle teams off and on over several years now. There's also talk about the London school starting a team of their own and I believe they already have one in Dublin. Severus even suggested inviting the Irish wizarding school. He apparently knows someone in their Ministry."

"I don't care about Soccer." Aphy stated. "I want to play Quidditch."

"No problem." Albus beamed at her. "We don't force anyone to play Soccer, if they don't want to. There's still the Quidditch cup and the games against the West Hogsmeade Quidditch team."

"Why don't they get to play London and Dublin?" Aphy demanded.

"Alas, one thing at a time." the headmaster winked at her. "Right now we're still just considering it for Soccer, but if we can arrange it and it is a success, we just might extend the project to other sports as well."

"Other sports?" Harry asked surprised.

"Yes, as part of the partnership we have several joined Basketball and Volleyball teams." Albus explained happily. "As well as Sports classes for all of our students. Ah, which reminds me, please don't forget to buy Aphy's sports clothes as well as her school robes. We still get a few children who arrive without them every year."

"Sports clothes?" Harry repeated incredulously.

"Yes, the uniform consists of black shorts and t-shirt with the Hogwarts crest in the front. After her sorting we will add Aphy's name in her house colour in the back." Albus informed them. "At least for those students wanting to join one of the sports teams we also recommend long pants, running shoes and a light pullover as they frequently train outside even on colder days. All in black as well, of course. All of these are available in the West Hogsmeade market as well as a shop in Diagon Alley called 'Anny's Muggle Goods'. The owner was on the Hogwarts Soccer team herself in her school days."

"Soccer, Soccer, Soccer." Aphy complained. "You keep going on about stupid Soccer."

"Yes Albus, what else has changed since my school days besides the sports?" Harry asked. "It's all very interesting, you see, but I did come here for Aphy and not myself. I have told her about my own experiences, of course, but she'd like to know what Hogwarts is like nowadays, not back then."

"Well, we have a lot more clubs, chess tournaments, Art and Music classes, a choir and school band." The headmaster cast a hopeful look at Aphy, but the girl continued to frown. Neither sports nor culture, then. "There are also new electives and we have added Muggle subjects to further students who are interested in Muggle culture and possibly wish to get a Muggle education someday."

"What new electives?" at least Harry seemed interested.

"There's French and Mathematics, but also Conjuring as an additional magical subject." Albus answered. "Physics and Chemistry are available as clubs and Alchemy, which is Severus' favourite."

"Ah yes, Snape." Harry's face hardened. "I met him outside. Didn't expect him to still be teaching."

'Bad move, Albus.' the headmaster realised. "Why ever not? I really wouldn't know what to do without him, you know. Good, experienced Potions teachers are hard to get, Potions Masters even harder, and few people manage to lead Slytherin so successfully."

"You call that successful?" Harry snorted.

Albus shook his head sadly. "Slytherins are difficult personalities. They do not follow anyone easily or act as a union much. You have only ever seen them under Severus' guidance. I however have known several heads of Slytherin in my time. Few of them managed to steer the house in any direction at all, none with the precision Severus does. Some were ignored completely, others even had to fight their own house."

"How endearing." Aphy sneered.

"Talking about the staff, there have been a few changes, though." Albus steered the conversation back onto safer ground. "We now have a much better Muggle Studies teacher, while Julian is teaching Flying as well as Poetry, Riddles and his original passion Psychology and, incredible as it may seem, we've had a steady DADA teacher for nine years now."

That obviously surprised Harry.

"Is he any good?" Aphy demanded.

Perhaps this was an angle Albus could work from. "Excellent in fact. He really knows his stuff and by now also has the necessary teaching experience to know how to best present it to the students. His name's Harald Sorensen, a Swedish wizard, wrote several books about DADA in his own language."

"But not worthy of being translated to English." Aphy concluded folding her arms over her chest. "I still don't want to go to boarding school."

Harry regarded her for a moment.

"And I don't want my daughter to be abused by Snape. I suffered enough from his 'teaching' myself." he decided. "I'm sorry, Albus, but maybe it will be better for Aphy, if she attends West Hogsmeade instead."

"What?" yelped Aphy. "But it's a public school! It must be full of dirty criminals and beggars."

"I assure you West Hogsmeade has excellent teachers." the headmaster sounded only slightly hurt. "And it isn't a boarding school. You'll be able to go home everyday."

 

Only two days later Harry and Aphy port keyed to just outside West Hogsmeade Wizarding School.

"It's shabby." Aphy stated at first glance.

Harry sighed, but couldn't deny the statement. The school looked very shabby compared to Hogwarts.

"It's a good school, Aphy." he tried to convince himself. "And you get the advantages of several classes at Hogwarts without having to live there as well as not being abused by Snape." There was a man scrubbing the floor in the entrance hall who looked oddly familiar, though Harry couldn't remember where he might have seen him before. After all he was probably a Squib and Harry didn't meet those often.

He gave them directions to the headmaster's office politely when Harry asked, which was a good sign. Clearly he wasn't as grumpy and unpleasant as old Mr. Filch.

As they walked up the stairs they soon noticed that the school was anything but deserted. Apparently it served as some sort of community center during the holidays. A cardboard sign pointed out the way to the 'yearly meeting of the West Hogsmeade gardening club' and several elderly witches passed them carrying baskets filled with balls of wool. Harry wondered whether that might be the West Hogsmeade knitting club on their way to their own meeting.

Two little girls in Muggle clothes slid down the banister to stop in front of Harry and Aphy.

"Hi." the apparently bolder one greeted them. "Are you a new teacher?"

She was an adorable child. About five or six, Harry estimated, with wild platinum blond curls.

"No, my daughter's a new student." Harry smiled at her. "And you? You seem a bit young for this school."

She laughed at that. "I'm Debby." she introduced herself. "Debby Snape. My Daddy's the Potions teacher."

"Professor Snape?" Harry gasped. "I thought he teaches at Hogwarts."

"Not, that Professor Snape." the girl scolded as that was apparently obvious. "That's granddaddy. Daddy teaches here."

"He's so cool. He showed us how to split water into ... into H and ... and air with electricity." her friend declared bouncing up and down on the steps.

"O, not air." Debby corrected. "O, for Oxgen. And H for Hydrogen."

"Oxygen." Harry amended faintly as he finally made the connection between her hair colour and last name. "You're Malfoy's daughter."

"No, my parents are Cathy and Draco Snape." she insisted.

Her friend nodded importantly and straightened her blue t-shirt. "Yes they are. I know them."

"Aphy," Harry decided. "I've changed my mind. You're not going to this school."

"Great." Aphy beamed.

"You're going to the one in London."

"But that's so far away!" Aphy protested.

 

All her protests were in vain, however. The very next day Aphy Potter had to take a 'filthy old train' to London with her father.

Harry was determined to put her into that school no matter whether she liked it or not. He'd get her a port key to take her there and back. There simply wasn't any alternative left as despite her mother's best efforts Aphy's French remained abysmal and the only other language she spoke was English.

Aphy simply wasn't interested in learning languages and Harry had to admit that he didn't speak any foreign languages either. Besides Parseltongue, that was, but that was a magical talent, not something he'd learned.

The lack of language skills meant that Aphy was forced to attend a school that taught in English, though, and that excluded both Beauxbattons, where her mother had gone, and Durmstrang. Not that Harry seriously would have considered the later anyway.

With Hogwarts and West Hogsmeade off the list that left only London for her as the only other British school taught in Gaelic.

Well, there was one more school in Northern Ireland, but Harry had no intention to risk his precious first born being killed by Muggle terrorists.

A daily port key to Dublin was out of he question and boarding school in Australia or North America would never meet with Aphy's or her mother's approval. It simply had to be London.

"The port key will get you there in an instant, Aphy, and you won't have to suffer any Snapes." he tried to explain to his pouting daughter as they walked down Diagon Alley.

The school didn't look so bad. A high building with a wide doorway, similar to West Hogsmeade, but more decorative.

It was locked for the holidays, though, forcing them to wait until the headmaster arrived for their meeting and let them in.

Headmaster Grunner was a polite wizard with greying brown hair, who seemed very honoured to meet the famous Harry Potter, though he repeatedly expressed his surprise that Harry wasn't determined to send his daughter to Hogwarts.

"Most people like to keep up family tradition." he explained his confusion.

"Yes, but Aphy didn't like the thought of attending a boarding school and not all my memories of Hogwarts are exclusively positive." Harry returned. "The relationships I have with many of the people on Hogwarts' staff would most likely influence their treatment of Aphy."

"I understand." Grunner said in a tone that made Harry strongly suspect that he'd gotten the completely wrong message and didn't want to pry any further.

Aphy scowled at them during most of the meeting, but at least she wasn't complaining this time. Maybe they'd finally found a school she approved of.

After their talk Grunner took them on a tour of the school showing them all the classrooms, the library and even the teachers' offices.

"This one looks very uninhabited." Harry commented when they reached the Potions teacher's office.

Everywhere else there had been pictures on the walls, potted plants or other decorative items and often also small personal objects, but here there was only the naked furniture.

"Ah yes, our old Potions teacher retired at the end of the last school year and the new one hasn't moved in, yet." Grunner explained.

"A new Potions teacher?" Harry asked casually, but Grunner apparently took it as a hint of doubt.

"I assure you Professor Snape is perfectly qualified." the headmaster said hastily.

"Snape?" Harry couldn't believe it. "But he's teaching at Hogwarts."

"Oh, not Severus Snape, of course. I doubt I could ever come up with an offer good enough to lure him away from Dumbledore. No, no, our Professor Snape is his son."

"I was told that Draco Ma . . . Snape is teaching in West Hogsmeade." Harry stated.

"Oh, yes, he is." Grunner confirmed. "I've managed to hire Snape's younger son, William. I know he isn't a full Potions Master, yet, but he only lacks one last exam and he is one of Britain's best trained Alchemists. I believe that in a few years he will be just as big a figure in both Alchemy and Potions as his father and brother already are, so I'm doing everything I can to tie him to my school before the big offers start rolling in."

"There are three of them?" Harry stared at Grunner in shock.

"Four, actually." the headmaster nodded. "Perhaps even five. The mother, Sarah Snape, is a top Alchemist as well, though she doesn't teach. She specialises in medical potions and Billy's current girlfriend is studying for the Potions mastership as well. Rumour has it that West Hogsmeade's headmaster is considering hiring her as his third Potions teacher. They have a great demand for Alchemists at that school."

"That's it." Harry decided. "I give up. Start practising your French, Aphy. I'm sending an application to Beauxbattons tonight."

At least his wife would be happy to hear that her children were going to attend her old school after all.

"But I hate France, Daddy!"

 

Up next: The prologue to The Catar. A catar playing in the Forbidden Forest. It's actually already written, but waiting for me to really get down to the fic.


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